50 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



bird took refuge in one of the burrows. He then started 

 chasing another of the birds flying about, and in due 

 time this one was also driven into one of the holes. 

 Then a third chase began, then a fourth and so on until 

 every bird had been driven into a hole, always after 

 a good deal of rushing about, and he remained alone. 

 After flying up and down a few times he finally flew 

 ofT, probably to some water-course or moist meadow 

 abounding in flies at a distance from the pit, where he 

 would join the other males of the colony. 



I remained for some time on the spot, keeping a close 

 watch on the little black burrows on the orange-coloured 

 sand-bank, but not a bird flew or even peeped out; nor 

 did any of the absent birds return to the pit. 



Is it a habit of this swallow in the breeding-time for 

 one male to remain behind when the others go away 

 to feed, and the females, or some of them, are still off 

 their eggs, just as, in other species, when the company 

 settles down to feed or sleep one k-eeps awake and on 

 guard? The action of the swallow in putting back the 

 others on their eggs strikes one as a development of 

 some such habit or instinct as that of the swift, and it 

 is possible that in the sand-martin the social habit is in 

 a more advanced state and the communities more close- 

 knit than in most species. But there is a good deal to 

 learn yet about the inner life of birds. 



Observers of animals are familiar with the fact of a 

 bird of masterful temper making himself head and 

 tyrant of his fellows, albeit it is less common or less 

 noticeable among birds that have the social habit than 



