frolicking until the arrival of the females, 

 when the playing turns to courting and 

 fighting. It is both interesting and amus- 

 ing to watch the male trying to attract 

 the attention of the female. He will hop 

 down on the ground, spread his wings 

 and tail, strut around and cut all sorts 

 of capers. The first time I saw it done 

 I thought he was wounded, and started 

 towards him to pick him up, but soon 

 learned my mistake. They are not very 

 quarrelsome birds, and soon commence to 

 pair. At this period, the male is very 

 attentive, but after nest-building has 

 commenced he is quite another bird. He 

 helps to find the place to build, and 

 appears to be very particular about it, 

 but as soon as it is decided upon, he 

 retires from business. He never works ; 

 he is a little dude, too finely dressed to 

 do any labor. I have frequently seen him 

 sitting a few feet above the nest, singing 

 unconcernedly, while his mate would be 

 struggling with a yard or two of twine, 

 or a piece of old rag to weave into the 

 nest. I have never seen the male help 

 in nest building, or in feeding the young 

 while in the nest, but have seen him feed 

 the young after they were fledged. A 



cat caught a female when the young were 

 unfledged, and I watched her mate to 

 see if he would raise the young. He 

 never fed them once.' He let them die, 

 and went off and found another mate, 

 who raised a family of young not more 

 than six feet from the other nest. While 

 the female is very gentle and tame, fre- 

 quently coming to the door in search of 

 material for the nest, and food for the 

 young, the male is shy and keeps at a 

 distance. When the young are full 

 grown he troubles himself no more about 

 them. The middle of August he leaves 

 wife and family and goes south to his 

 winter home. The female and young 

 remain until the second week in Octo- 

 ber." 



The nest is quite a neat and compact 

 structure, and is usually composed of 

 interwoven leaves, twigs, fine rootlets, 

 shreds of bark and fine grasses. It is 

 lined with fine grass, horse hairs, or fine 

 rootlets. It is usually placed in low 

 bushes, but sometimes in saplings. Nests 

 have been found which consisted of two 

 stories, each story containing eggs, and 

 two or more nests are often built very 

 near to each other. 



THE CHIMNEY SWALLOWS. 



With circling swoops they flit across my view 

 Like winged darts by hidden power sent, 

 Then lightning like, 

 The chimney strike, 

 And pass from sight — and then, behold, anew, 

 The air is by their sable feathers rent ! 



They seem to play some game of idle chase, 

 As in and out the tiny beings fly ; 

 Till fading dim, 

 On heaven's rim, 

 The sun goes down and shadows hide its face, 

 And they are lost against the murky sky. 



-Jac Lowell. 



207 



