Barn 
Swallows 
Mosquit os 
will not 
follow 
y 
under 
Flint* s 
Bridge 
and silently up river. When it rose the first time it 
whistled slightly, not in the usual manner but more like a 
Duck, the whistle being very faint. 
Soon after the Red-wings had been driven away from 
the roost on the Barrett meadow, in fact before they had 
quite disappeared in the gloom, a flock of twenty Barn 
Swallows came dashing past, flying low over the water, 
doubling and twisting like so many Snipe and making a great 
outcry as if alarmed or excited. After whirling about for 
several moments,they swept in over the meadow and apparently 
alighted in the Phalaris [Canary grassJ at the very spot 
which the Blackbirdfihad evacuated. I say apparently, 
because I did not actually see any of the birds alight 
but merely lost sight of them at this point and failed to 
see them reappear against the sky or over the water lovter 
down river. On several occasions last year I saw Swallows 
flying about this Blackbird roost at evening and once or 
twirice was nearly sure that they alighted in the Phalaris 
although I never could settle the point definitely. __ 
Repeatedly last summer I noticed that the swarms 
of mosquitos which frequently followed me up river at 
evening invariably left me at Flint*s Bridge. This evening 
I tested the question with some care. A large number of 
the little wretches had followed me closely all the way 
from the cabin. So long as I paddled at top speed they 
did not annoy me much but I could hear them humming in 
my wake. When I stopped, they would close in around my 
