THE SWALLOW BOOK 



CHAPTER I 



THE SWALLOW 



Who does not know and love the friendly 

 little swallow? Each year after her long 

 absence in the warm lands of the south 

 she comes to us with the sunshine and 

 the flowers, and she tells us with her merry 

 chatter that spring is on the way. 



There are about seventy species of swal- 

 lows scattered over the entire world, but 

 only five of these are, to be found in the 

 United States, and six in Europe. The 

 swallow whose story we tell in these pages 

 is our common barn swallow, whose sum- 

 mer home is under the eaves of our barns 

 and outbuildings. In Europe she is called 

 the house or chimney swallow, and there 



