CHAPTER IX. 
THE CHIMNEY SWALLOW 
(Hirundo rustica). 
“ Come summer visitant, attach 
To my re eel-roof your nest of clay, 
And let my ear your music catch 
Low twittering underneath the thatch 
At the gray dawn of day.” 
Mrs. Smith. 
From the most remote times the Swallow has ever 
been associated with a friendly greeting. All nations, 
of whose early history we have any knowledge, make 
mention of this little friend of man, as being treasured by 
Jews, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs, one and all; by the 
inhabitants of northern regions, as well as those of the 
south; by those of the west, as well as the east. In no 
ancient history do we ever read of this bird being 
subjected to ill-treatment or persecution; and it is only 
the more modern nations of the south, and, be it said to 
their shame, some inhabitants of certain parts of 
Germany, who prove the exceptions to this rule. The 
Swallow is regarded by all as something more than 
earthly, whose life and existence is worthy of our interest. 
The arrival of these birds in the spring, and their departure 
in the autumn, divide the year into two halves,—one a 
bright, and the other a dreary one; their arrival is greeted 
