SWALLOW 149 



before they were able or strong enough. In the third 

 great stack I found two nests — one was 11 feet 2 inches 

 from the top, and the lower portion of it was many years 

 old, showing that several nests had been added to it, and 

 this year's new work was easily recognisable ; the young 

 had been reared in it." 



Mr. W. Prentis, in his Birds of Bainham, 1894, says : 

 " We do not seem to have so many Swallows now as we 

 used to have, the successive cold springs and wet summers 

 have told very much against them. According to my 

 observations their numbers have been reduced by more 

 than half. There was only one pair on my chimney-top 

 last year, instead of three ; this may not be the case 

 everywhere. No doubt with finer summers our insect- 

 loving birds will increase. The spring of the year 1869 

 was a very severe one for the Swallow. On May 28 

 I observed one lying dead beside my farm buildings, 

 and another flying more like a bat than a bird over my 

 garden hedge ; others were seen by my brother, Mr. 

 Edward Prentis, at his farm in the parish of Chalk, near 

 Gravesend, with their heads under their wings for warmth, 

 upon his horses' backs in the stables." 



In his Notes on Birds in Kent {Zoologist, 1896), Cap- 

 tain Boyd Alexander remarks that " the congregating 

 movements prior to migration are not the least interest- 

 ing feature in bird-life. Swallows and Martins make an 

 alliance, and they may be seen all day long winging 

 their mazy courses to and fro over the cut cornfields, 

 and so deep at times do the Swallows pitch their flight, 

 that they well-nigh brush the shaggy corn-stalks with 

 their breasts." 



Among the birds seen on the beach at Dungeness, 

 Mr. T. Hepburn found, on May 10 to 14, 1900, a good 



