Raid on a Sand-Swallow Colony – "How Many Eggs?"

In this page from Harper’s Weekly, four children are shown scaling a sandy bank. A colony of riled sand-swallows circles around them. The picture’s caption— “how many eggs?”—suggests that the children are involved in a game to collect as many sand-swallow eggs as possible. In the face of the Industrial Revolution, Homer’s image harkened back to a simpler way of life, represented by scenes of outdoor play and leisure. Here, Homer’s subjects assume a manifold relationship with the land on which they play. On the one hand, the children’s game can be perceived as natural and resourceful, provoking a kind of symbiosis with their surrounding environment. On the other, their “raid” is intrusive, even exploitative, as it encroaches upon the birds’ natural habitat.