d. He pays for
all the trouble Farmer Brown's boy took to put that house up. If there
is anybody who catches more flies and winged insects than Twitter, I
don't know who it is."

"How about me?" demanded a new voice, as a graceful form skimmed
over Johnny Chuck's head, and turning like a flash, came back. It was
Forktail the Barn Swallow, the handsomest and one of the most graceful
of all the Swallow family. He passed so close to Johnny that the latter
had a splendid chance to see and admire his glistening steel-blue back
and the beautiful chestnut-brown of his forehead and throat with its
narrow black collar, and the brown to buff color of his under parts. But
the thing that was most striking about him was his tail, which was so
deeply forked as to seem almost like two tails.

"I would know him as far as I could see him just by his tail alone,"
exclaimed Johnny. "I don't know of any other tail at all like it."

"There isn't any other like it," declared Skimmer. "If Twitter the
Martin is the largest of our family, Forktail is the handsomest."

"How about my usefulness?" demanded Forktail, as he came skimming past
again. "Cousin Twitter certainly does catch a lot of flies and insects
but I'm willing to go against him any day to see who can catch the
most."

With this he darted away. Watching him they saw him alight on the top of
Farmer Brown's barn. "It's funny," remarked Johnny Chuck, "but as long
as I've known Forktail, and I've known him ever since I was big enough
to know anybody, I've never found out how he builds his nest. I've seen
him skimming over the Green Meadows times without number, and often he
comes here to the Old Orchard as he did just now, but I've never seen
him stop anywhere except over on that barn."

"That's where he nests," chuckled Skimmer.

"What?" cried Johnny Chuck. "Do you mean to say he nests on Farmer
Brown's barn?"

"No," replied Skimmer. "He nests in it. That's why he is called the Barn
Swallow, and why you never have seen his nest. If you'll just go over to
Farmer Brown's barn and look up in the roof, you'll see Forktail's nest
there somewhere."

"Me go over to Farmer Brown's barn!" exclaimed Johnny Chuck. "Do you
think I'm crazy?"

Skimmer chuckled. "Forktail isn't crazy," said he, "and he goes in and
out of that barn all day long. I must say I wouldn't care to build in
such a place myself, but he seems to like it. There's one thing about
it, his home is warm and dry and com