A HAY-BARN IDYL 



sweeping in wide circles, and, having secured the 

 invisible morsel, coming down grade into the barn 

 with the speed of arrows. A row of expectant heads, 

 foiu' or five of them, arranged along the wide open- 

 ing of the nest await them. It is touch and go, 

 no tarrying; the gnat or the fly is deposited in an 

 open mouth as swiftly as it is caught. The beaks of 

 all the young open as the swift wings of the parent 

 bird are heard, and a subdued chippering and squeak- 

 ing follows. That there is any method in the feed- 

 ing, or that they are fed in regular order, I cannot 

 believe. Which of the young will get the next mor- 

 sel is probably a matter of chance, but doubtless the 

 result averages up very evenly in the course of an 

 hour or two. 



The wing-power expended by the parent birds in 

 this incessant and rapid flight must be very great, 

 and one would think that all the insects captured 

 would be required to keep it up. How fine and slight 

 their prey seems to be! I may follow their course 

 through the meadow with my head about as high 

 above the grass as is their flight, and not see any- 

 thing but an occasional butterfly or two — a game 

 the swallows are not looking for. They himt out 

 something invisible to my eyes, something almost 

 as intangible as the drifting flower pollen. Probably 

 the finer it is, the more potent it is; a meal of gnats 

 may be highly concentrated food. Now and then 

 they probably capture a house-fly or other large in- 

 227 



