108 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



wings, and held out insects temptingly. 

 In this way the young were lured up, 

 and finally spent the night on the sill, 

 cuddled together. 



Next morning the wind blew sharply 

 and the perch was disagreeable and 

 draughty, so with encouraging cries 

 the youngsters were coaxed to the 

 limbs of a hemlock, the nearest tree to 

 the window, but one which offered 

 only a perilous footing. Two of the 

 four found rest in the most steady 

 branches, but two grasped bending 

 twigs and swung over head downward, 

 having no strength of grip with which 

 to regain an upright position. Under 

 one bird were tiers of soft green 

 branches, under the other a stone wall, 

 rough and jagged. The old birds gave 

 a few sibilant twitters and darted 

 invisibly high; in a minute or two the 

 sky was alive with swallows, fluttering 



