An Usurper Punished


Some years ago a sparrow had early in spring taken possession of an old

swallow's nest, and had laid some eggs in it, when the original builder

and owner of the castle made her appearance, and claimed possession. The

sparrow, firmly seated, resisted the claim of the swallow; a smart battle

ensued, in which the swallow was joined by its mate, and during the

conflict by several of their comrades. All the efforts of the assembled

swallows to dislodge the usurper were, however, unsuccessful. Finding

themselves completely foiled in this object, it would seem that they had

held a council of war to consult on ulterior measures; and the resolution

they came to shows that with no ordinary degree of ingenuity some very

lofty considerations of right and justice were combined in their

deliberations. Since the sparrow could not be dispossessed of the nest,

the next question with them appears to have been, how he could be

otherwise punished for his unlawful occupation of a property

unquestionably belonging to its original constructor. The council were

unanimous in thinking that nothing short of the death of the intruder

could atone for so heinous an offence; and having so decided, they

proceeded to put their sentence into execution in the following very

extraordinary manner. Quitting the scene of the contest for a time, they

returned with accumulated numbers, each bearing a beak full of building

materials; and without any further attempt to beat out the sparrow, they

instantly set to work and built up the entrance into the nest, enclosing

the sparrow within the clay tenement, and leaving her to perish in the

stronghold she had so bravely defended.



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