32 BIRDS OF P. F.18LAND.

he is here, sweeping the deep field of the gentle spring sky. How buoyant his flight! What a grand spirit of strength, and joy, and freedom he seems, as he rushes through the clear heaven, over bay and barren field, shouting a cry of gladness on his arrival in his summer home!

These birds congregate in great numbers about mill-ponds or other sheets of water. 'l‘heir circ- ling and cycling, in spiral and maze, their darting and doubling, now skimming the glassy surface, then shooting upward into the blue sky till lost, like fading stars, on its brow, form the most wonderful and beautiful evolutions ever performed by winged wanderers of the air. 'l‘hey nest in hollow stumps in lonely wood-lands. 'l‘he nests are lined with feathers, and contain pure white eggs.

The Eave Swallows (1’. [mzz'f/t'mzx) build their colonies of mud nests under the eaves of our barns, and

“The swallow twittering from the straw~huilt shed .. is abundant poetry in many of our country dis- tricts.

The Barn Swallow (H./10rreomm), with his

long, forked tail, is the largest of the group, and