148 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



and these I have on several occasions noticed to be more 

 heavily marked when the light had direct access to the 

 top of the nest than when it was built under the rafters 

 of darkened barns or deep down in chimneys." 



In Dr. E. B. Sharpe's Monograph of Sivallows (vol. i., 

 p. 235), Mr. E. Bartlett writes: "Museum, Maidstone, 

 September 1-5, 1885. Lately our benefactors, Messrs 

 T. and J. Hollingworth, ordered the huge Elizabethan 

 chimneys over the Hall and Great Hall of this Institution 

 to be restored, and knowing that the Swallow^s had bred 

 in them for years, I was anxious to see the position of the 

 nests. In the first chimney I found a nest of four eggs 

 on June 15, 1885, at the depth of 7 feet from the top of 

 the stack. In the second stack of chimneys, with several 

 shafts, and some of them extremely narrow, I found a 

 nest of three eggs on August 20, 1885, 6 feet 6 inches 

 from the top of the stack ; they had been sat on for 

 about five days, therefore the young would be hatched 

 about the 28th of that month, and if we allow six days 

 for the young to become fully fledged and able to fly from 

 the nest, it would bring the date up to September 3. In 

 another shaft of the same stack was a nest with four 

 unfledged young, which was 8 feet 6 inches from the top 

 of the stack ; and in such an extremely narrow shaft it 

 appeared almost impossible for a Swallow to descend to so 

 great a depth. I had often watched them, and noticed 

 the old birds hovering over the top of the stack before 

 descending, and from what I have now seen I am con- 

 vinced that the Swallow descends to the nest with 

 upraised wings, dropping straight down to any depth 

 necessary. I have often caught the young birds which 

 had fallen into the rooms from these great chimneys,, 

 having no doubt attempted the ascent from the nest 



