OF ARTS AND vSCIENCES. 8 1 



lodged by weather, or was it the work of those English spar- 

 rows, who come daily to the barn-3'ard to pilfer the hens' 

 grain ? 



But soon the eaves swallows with their white foreheads, and 

 the long forked tailed barn swallows returned and were seen 

 gathering the little pellets of mud in the road for their homes be- 

 neath the eaves. Each day's work was shown by the addition 

 of dark, fresh mud, that of the previous day having dried. 



Long before there were so many bird-lovers in country towns, 

 a good old farmer added a narrow strip of boards, a few inches 

 below the eaves, on the south side of the barn, to aid the eave 

 swallows in building. The shelf was nearly filled b}^ their nests, 

 of which there were nearly a hundred. Adapting the construc- 

 tion to the location, the space between the shelf and the eaves 

 was entirely plastered, leaving but a round opening from which 

 the alert bird viewed the world. The usual structure of the barn 

 or eave swallow is a simple, pocket-shaped affair plastered to the 

 side of the barn or onto the rafter. In childhood days the oc- 

 cupants of these nests were watched with wonder and admira- 

 tion. How beautiful their plumage! And what power of flight! 

 The acme of grace and poetry of motion. For many years this 

 state of affairs existed, the birds reoccupying, each spring, the 

 nests which needed but slight renovation. 



The same man^ with hospitable intentions erected a large and 

 imposing bird house in his garden. A flock of purple martins 

 soon took up their residence, and each succeeding year finds 

 them there, in full numbers. 



Whether there was a feud similar to that of the house of Mon- 

 tague, and of Capulet, I cannot say, but the belligerent martins 

 made war on their relatives, the swallows, and demolished so 

 many of the nests, that a greater part of the swallow colony left 

 the premises, never to return. 



You will perhaps recall "Silver Spot," so called on account 

 of the round spot of white near his beak ? He was the wise old 

 crow of whom Thompson-Seton tells. For years in a somewhat 

 isolated pine, a crow's nest had reposed near the summit of 

 the tree. The gunners and passers-by had long thought it un- 



