NESTLINGS OF FOREST AND MARSH 
dodge down with it to the babies ; but 
usually it was the mother who fluttered 
back and forth with tiny bugs for the brood. 
There were five pretty nestlings in that one 
small house, scarcely big enough for two. 
As they grew larger, the wee mother seemed 
to sit up on a platform of tiny heads. 
After a time she was crowded out onto the 
very rim. 
One bright morning I missed the little 
father from his post, and went to see what 
had become of him. He sat on the extreme 
end of the hoisting-beam, with two babies 
beside him ; and there the three remained 
all day until darkness covered them. The 
three babies yet in the nest were the objects 
of much solicitude to the anxious mother. 
She hardly dared leave them, either from 
fear that they would fly or anxiety lest they 
would not. At the foot of the bluff were 
countless myriads of insects, and there the 
swallows flew in circles, sometimes almost 
striking the ground in their swift downward 
curves. The mother did .not join them 
94 
