quisitely thus: "A few years
ago I put up a little bird house in the back end of my garden for the
accommodation of the wrens, and every season a pair have taken up their
abode there. One spring a pair of Blue Birds looked into the tenement,
and lingered about several days, leading me to hope that they would
conclude to occupy it. But they finally went away. Late in the season
the wrens appeared, and after a little coquetting, were regularly
installed in their old quarters, and were as happy as only wrens can
be. But before their honeymoon was over, the Blue Birds returned. I
knew something was wrong before I was up in the morning. Instead of that
voluble and gushing song outside the window, I heard the wrens scolding
and crying out at a fearful rate, and on going out saw the Blue Birds in
possession of the box. The poor wrens were in despair and were forced to
look for other quarters."

THE SWALLOW.

"Come, summer visitant, attach
To my reedroof thy nest of clay,
And let my ear thy music catch,
Low twitting underneath the thatch,
At the gray dawn of day."

Sure harbingers of spring are the Swallows. They are very common birds,
and frequent, as a rule, the cultivated lands in the neighborhood of
water, showing a decided preference for the habitations of man. "How
gracefully the swallows fly! See them coursing over the daisy-bespangled
grass fields; now they skim just over the blades of grass, and then with
a rapid stroke of their long wings mount into the air and come hovering
above your head, displaying their rich white and chestnut plumage to
perfection. Now they chase each other for very joyfulness, uttering
their sharp twittering notes; then they hover with expanded wings
like miniature Kestrels, or dart downwards with the velocity of
the sparrowhawk; anon they flit rapidly over the neighboring pool,
occasionally dipping themselves in its calm and placid waters, and
leaving a long train of rings marking their varied course. How easily
they turn, or glide over the surrounding hedges, never resting, never
weary, and defying the eye to trace them in the infinite turnings and
twistings of their rapid shooting flight. You frequently see them glide
rapidly near the ground, and then with a sidelong motion mount aloft, to
dart downwards like an animated meteor, their plumage glowing in the
light with metallic splendor, and the row of white spots on the tail
contrasting beautifully with t