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edi'enh 



aroused my curiosity — what they were 

 doing there by day, and how they got out 

 jyj so quickly when alarmed. The only way it 

 ^e//ou) seemed possible for them to dash out on the 

 instant, as they did, was to fly straight through. 

 But the holes were too small, and no bird 

 but a bank-swallow would have attempted 

 such a thing. 



One day I drove the birds out, then crawled 

 in under a sill on the opposite side, and hid 

 in a corner of the loft. It was a long wait 

 in the stuffy old place before one of the birds 

 came back. I heard him light first on the 

 roof; then his little head appeared at one of 

 the holes, as he sat just below, against the 

 side of the barn, looking and listening before 

 coming in. Quite satisfied, after a minute or 

 two, that nobody was inside, he scrambled in 

 and flew down to a corner in which was a 

 lot of old hay and rubbish. Here he began 

 a great rustle and stirring about, like a 

 squirrel in autumn leaves, probably after 

 insects, though it was too dark to see just 

 what he was doing. It sounded part of the 

 time as if he were scratching aside the hay, 



