NESTLINGS OF FOREST AND MARSH 
which they plastered to the boards, using 
their bills as trowels. Then straw or hay 
and horsehair were carried in long wisps, 
sometimes almost too heavy for the little 
architect, and made to stay in place with 
much poking and tucking down. Feathers 
were great prizes, and were stuck in pro- 
miscuously. Some naturalists assert that 
saliva is mixed with the mud to make it stick, 
and it seems to me this must be so. The 
nest is so much firmer than that of the eave- 
swallow and can be taken down intact, while 
the other crumbles almost at a touch. 
In several nests the young were nearly 
ready to fly, and their little heads were 
stretched over the edge, as if they were try- 
ing to gather up sufficient courage to make 
the dive. One did so after sitting half an 
hour half-way out, and he landed with admi- 
rable precision on a broad beam. Having 
rested a little and been fed, he followed his 
father through the window out into the free, 
fresh air. What a change for the little fel- 
low from the hot close air of a hay loft to the 
202 
