BIRDS AND MAN 57 



moment the alarm cries ceased and the whole gather- 

 ing of swallows dispersed in all directions. There 

 was no doubt that my hat had caused the excite- 

 ment ; it was of tweed, of an obscure grey colour, 

 striped or barred with dark brown. Throwing it 

 down on the ground among the bushes it struck me 

 that its colour and markings were like those of a 

 grey striped cat. Any one seeing it lying there 

 would, at the first moment, have mistaken it for a 

 cat lying curled up asleep among the bushes. Then I 

 remembered that I had been wearing the same 

 delusive, dangerous-looking round tweed fishing- 

 hat on the occasion of being mobbed by the gold- 

 crests at Frensham. Of course the illusion could 

 only have been produced in a bird looking down 

 upon the top of the hat from above. 



