Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-08-11
THE ANTI-SLAVERY BUGLE.

thought there was nothing more 20 be seen, till the
young ones should DO seen peeping curiously out
OF their doors at q world into which they were
called, they could not tell how or wherefore. But
one morning our attention was aroused by an uu.
usual clatter-by sounds. there was no doubt, oil
@rial strife and running out, we saw the strong
hold OF the swallows attacked by a troop Of spar
rows, whose obvious design was to gain possession
of the ready.built, comfortable nests. We are not
aware that this proceeding is in accordance with
the ordinary habits of sparrows. They build
skilltully their own nests, and aa more careful Ia
the choice of n locality than tho swallows and We
are driven, therefore, TO the conclusion that this
was entirely nm exceptional case, and that the be.
siogers wero a colony whose dwellings had either
been rendered uncomfortable or wholly destroyed
by some accidental interference Of man or ma
turo.
1t might be thought that the marnuding party
would have no chance at all with creatures SO
strong and so wonderfully quick that it was doubt
less in reference TO them the orator alluded conf
IDENTIFY to tho fact of a birds being in two places at
once. But there are somo considerations that tell
in FAVOR OF the sparrows. They are a more united
body than the others: they go to work in concert,
and live under fixed social laws: when they are
engaged in plundering, they have outlying pickets
to give the alarm in case of need and they have
secret courts of justice for the trial and punishment
of criminals. On these solemn occasions, they be-
take themselves to some solitary placo-2erhaps at
the outskirts of q wood and the whole commune.
ty gather and yociferato around the offender, re-.
preaching him, no doubt, with his baseness. What
punishment follows we are unable to tel for this
secret tribunal has its spies and sentinels posted
around, and on the slightest alarm the court breaks
up, and changes the venue to some more solitary
spot. The very mystery of the proceedings, how
ever, is ominous of some terrible catastrophe and
we turn away with a shudder from specializing on
the doom of the guilty sparrow.
The sparrows, besides, are obstinate and deter
mined to the last degree they think nothing of
repulse, but return again and again to their attempt,
of whatever nature it may be. They have a Zou-
avian boldness and impudence they hold in utter
contempt the laws of property and, in fact, they
have every characteristic of reckless banditti or
rowing buccaneers. 1t is not wonderful that o body
of this nature should become formidable by more
than numbers, even to more powerful and agile
creatures. In spite of the gallant sorties Of the
garrison-in spite of the lightning sweeps among
the enemy-the nests were sometimes reached and
received considerable damage and although the
b~esiegers were always driven back, they we're al
ways sure to return. The swallows were Mt work
by the earliest dawn in repairing the breaches in
their earthworks; but as soon as this was accom-
plished, the swallows, being of the nature of a
light guerilla force, and, therefore, upburdened
with a commissariat, which would have obliged
them to wait for supplies that never came, and of
the ORDERS of a war-minister who gave no orders
at all, were upon them again in an instant.
The brave swallows, it may be supposed, were
much harrassed but, by and by, they had recourse
to an engineering expedient, which showed a very
extraordinary degree of intelligence. The spar
rows, they knew, had no chance with them in n
personal conflict-the object of the assailants was
to get possession of their Businesses and in order
to render this more difficult, the swallows actually
built up the door of their nests in front, and made
an opening behind, where they Joined the wall
The chagrin Of the assailants, when they dis.
covered this clever man9uvre, was ludicrously eY.
ident; but nevertheless, with the obstinacy of true
sparrows, they continued their attack with una
Il hntAI tInAp. naAAnt4ll- l. i -
place by storm, and being as repeatedly rcpulsed
! The conduct of one swallow was the special subject
OF our admiration-fOr we need not say that, day
after day, we returned to the spectacle with the
eagerness of the combatants themselves-and Of
ten we wished we had the power of individualizing
him in some way or other. This champion posted
himself within one of the newly-made doors, from
which his tail feathers protruded, and, we'll know
ing that the sparrows would not hazard a personal
conflict, there he remained with incredible perse.
verance, so far as we know, morning, noon and
night. To say that we watched him every hour OF
the day, would be an exaggeration but the tail
feathers were the first object we saw in the morn
ing, and the last that waved over the retreat of the
assailants in the afternoon these tail-feathers
were the true standard of the besieged-a flag SO
immoyable that 1T gave us the idea of its being
nailed to the mast.
Curious as it may seem, this singular siege con-
tinued till the appearance showed the assailants
that all hope was over; and they at length took
their departure, and we saw them no more. But
the champion was not SO easily moved. Perhaps
he conSidered the young to be in danger; perhaps
he had become accustomed to his gallant watch
perhaps he was proud of the distinction he had
gained perhaps. But we could not tell what
might be his inducement: all we knew was, that
whenever we CHANGED to look at the nest, there was
he, as alert as ever, with th1 tail-feathers standing
out in triumph from the door.
Surely this was a kind of monomania. We
wondered what were really the hours he chose for
his food and recreation. and the idea even occur.
red to us-we acknowledge it was a wild one
that his grateful brethren provided him with every
thing necessary, leaving him to indulge at his sole
pleasure in life, in recollections Of his glory
Week after week passed away, but not so the tail;
September came, but the tail did not go; the leaves
fell, but the tail stood; and in October, when the
colony fitted to the moon, or to the bottom of the
waters, this heroic sentinel remained behind.
Was, he asleep? Had his feet been so long root
ed to the spot that instead of migrating like the
rest, he had sunk into ~torpidity athomcS Our Gu
riosity was raised to the highest pitch, and at
length placing q ladder against the wall, we crept
cautiously up. The tail-feathers did not stir, oven
when our breath was upon them; we touched them
with our fnger-they were cold and motionless.-
Dead thought we-brave sentinel-he died at his
post! We removed the nest gently, and bringing
it down to our friends, the rector and his family
we found the tail in it, but nothing more! Three
feathers, arranged so as to represent exactly a
swallows tail, were firmly fixed in the threshhold