, my attention was arrested by a band of them
containing several hundreds, perhaps a thousand, circling about near a
large, tall, disused chimney in a secluded place in the country. They
were very lively, and chippering, and diving in a most extraordinary
manner. They formed a broad continuous circle many rods in diameter.
Gradually the circle contracted and neared the chimney. Presently
some of the birds as they came round began to dive toward it, and the
chippering was more animated than ever. Then a few ventured in; in a
moment more, the air at the mouth of the chimney was black with the
stream of descending swallows. When the passage began to get crowded,
the circle lifted and the rest of the birds continued their flight,
giving those inside time to dispose of themselves. Then the influx began
again, and was kept up till the crowd became too great, when it cleared
as before. Thus by installments, or in layers, the swallows were packed
into the chimney until the last one was stowed away. Passing by the
place a few days afterward, I saw a board reaching from the roof of the
building to the top of the chimney, and imagined some curious person or
some predaceous boy had been up to take a peep inside, and see how so
many swallows could dispose of themselves in such a space. It would have
been an interesting spectacle to see them emerge from the chimney in the
morning.

IV APRIL

If we represent the winter of our northern climate by a rugged snow-clad
mountain, and summer by a broad fertile plain, then the intermediate
belt, the hilly and breezy uplands, will stand for spring, with March
reaching well up into the region of the snows, and April lapping well
down upon the greening fields and unloosened currents, not beyond
the limits of winter's sallying storms, but well within the vernal
zone,--within the reach of the warm breath and subtle, quickening
influences of the plain below. At its best, April is the tenderest of
tender salads made crisp by ice or snow water. Its type is the first
spear of grass. The senses--sight, hearing, smell--are as hungry for
its delicate and almost spiritual tokens as the cattle are for the first
bite of its fields. How it touches one and makes him both glad and sad!
The voices of the arriving birds, the migrating fowls, the clouds of
pigeons sweeping across the sky or filling the woods, the elfin horn of
the first honey-bee venturing abroad in the middle of the day, the clear
piping