Bird=-Lore 
A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 
DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 
Vol. XII May—JuNE, 1910 No. 3 
My Summer Tenants 
By STEPHEN P. BROWNELL, West Barnett, Vt. 
With photographs by the author 
URRYING northward, on 
H swift wing, two pairs of Tree 
Swallows reach a certain 
fence beside a brook, which flows into 
the Connecticut river. The fields 
are yet cold and gray, with patches 
of snow still lingering around the 
hedges. Yonder mountain is as white 
as in winter, for it is only the middle 
of April. The brook is swollen and 
turbulent, and the wind blows cold 
and fierce; but these welcome visitors 
from warmer lands are as happy as 
they can be. 
The strange migratory impulse 
that urged these birds onward toward 
the north is rapidly subsiding, but 
the nesting instinct is yery pressing. 
But where shall they find a home? 
BS. Where find a hidden hollow in which 
TREE SWALLOW AT NEST to place those white eggs that lack pro- 
tective coloration? Gone are the pole fences that, criss-crossing around the 
pastures, provided such convenient hollows in their butt logs. Boards and barbed- 
wire have taken the place of the old poles. The bushes along the roads in which, 
formerly, Robins, Vireos and Catbirds built their nests, and which, also, provided 
a few hollow trunks for Bluebirds and Tree Swallows, have recently been 
cut down. The State Legislature ordered their destruction, so that ordinary 
travelers might see the speeding motor-car in time to escape to the fields for 
their lives. 
