Some years ago a sparrow had early in the spring taken possession of a swallow's old nest, and had laid some eggs in it, when the original builder and owner made her appearance and claimed possession. The sparrow, firmly seated, refused to leave the nest. A smart battle followed, in which the swallow was joined by its mate, and, during the conflict, by several of their comrades. All the efforts of the swallows to drive out the usurper were, however, unsuccessful. Finding themselves completely foiled in this object, they held a council of war to consult as to what they should do, and the plan they agreed upon shows that it was with no ordinary degree of ingenuity that they had solved the question as to what was right and just. Since the sparrow could not be driven out of the nest, the next question with them appears to have been, how she could be otherwise punished for her unlawful occupation of a property belonging to another. The council were of one mind in thinking that nothing short of the death of the intruder could atone for so heinous an offense; and having so decided, they went to work to put their sentence into execution in the following very wonderful manner. Leaving the scene of the contest for a time, they returned with many more friends, each bearing a beak full of building materials; and without any further attempt to beat out the sparrow, they at once set to work to build up the entrance into the nest, and soon had enclosed the sparrow within the clay tenement, thus leaving the poor bird to perish in the stronghold she had so bravely defended.