Bird of Summer

摘要

Long-winged and fork-tailed, the Barn Swallow is a graceful master of summer's aerial ballet. One swallow maketh not summer," wrote the English playwright John Heywood in 1546, but for me, one swallow, the fust Bain Swallow of the season, made it summei at my Grandfather Hill's farm near Leisureville, Pennsylvania. I spent many of my boyhood summers at the Hill farm doing chores and learning about nature. I put up bluebird houses, spied on a den of red foxes, chased cottontail rabbits, found the nest cavity of a Red-headed Woodpecker, and kept box turtles from the woodlot. But one of the most fascinating lessons for me was watching the Barn Swallows that nested on the rafters of the barn.