allow's nest, built in the west corner of a window facing the
north, was so much softened by the rain beating against it, that it was
rendered unfit to support the superincumbent load of five pretty full
grown swallows. During a storm the nest fell into the tower corner of
the window, leaving the young brood exposed to all the fury of the
blast. To save the little creatures from an untimely death, the owner of
the house benevolently caused a covering to be thrown over them, till
the severity of the storm was past. No sooner had it subsided, than the
sages of the colony assembled, fluttering round the window, and hovering
over the temporary covering of the fallen nest. As soon as this careful
anxiety was observed, the covering was removed, and the utmost joy
evinced by the group, on finding the young ones alive and unhurt. After
feeding them, the members of this assembled community arranged
themselves into working order. Each division taking its appropriate
station, commenced instantly to work, and before night-fall they had
jointly completed an arched canopy over the young brood in the corner
where they lay, and securely covered them against a succeeding blast.
Calculating the time occupied by them in performing this piece of
architecture, it appeared evident that the young must have perished from
cold and hunger, before any single pair could have executed half the
job."

"How very kind, Uncle Thomas! Had they been reasoning creatures, they
could not have behaved more properly."

"I dare say not, Frank. Such traits overstep the limits of _instinct_,
and almost trespass on that of reason."

"You asked, Frank, if it was want of food which prompted the flight of
migratory animals from one place to another. In some cases it is so,
undoubtedly; as for instance, in that which I am now going to tell you
about, the American passenger pigeon; it is from the work of the great
naturalist, Wilson.

"The migrations of these pigeons appear to be undertaken rather in quest
of food than merely to avoid the cold of the climate; since we find them
lingering in the northern regions around Hudson's Bay so late as
December, and since their appearance is so casual and irregular,
sometimes not visiting certain districts for several years in any
considerable numbers, while at other times they are innumerable. I have
often witnessed these migrations in the Genesee country, often in
Pennsylvania, and also in various parts of Virginia, with a