THF TEMPLES Or THE HILLS 273 



feeding have no close refuge into whicli they can (juickly 

 vanish at the sight of danger, he may occasionally be 

 watched chasing them as a dog on the ground chases 

 a rabbit; but the best display is when he goes after 

 a flock of starlings. At no other time does a company 

 of these birds ai)pcar so like a single organism composed 

 of many separate bodies governed by one will. Only 

 when he is in the midst of the crowd, if, in spite of 

 their ([uick doublings, he succeeds in getting there, do 

 tliey instantly all fly apart and are like thj Hying frag- 

 ments of a violently shattered mass; then, if he has not 

 already made his capture, he singles out one bird to 

 pursue. 



A still better spectacle is afforded by the fiery-hearted 

 little bird-hunter when, after the harvest, he ranges over 

 the fields; when the village sparrows, mixed with finches 

 of several species, are out on the stubble, often in 

 immense congregations covering half a large field from 

 end to end. On such occasions they like to feed near 

 a hedge and are thickest on the ground at a distance 

 of three or four seconds' flight from the thorny shelter. 

 Suddenly the dreaded enemy appears, topping the hedges 

 at its far end, and at the same instant, the whole vast 

 gathering, extending the entire length of the field, is 

 up in the air, their innumerable, swiftly fluttering trans- 

 lucent wings, which produce a loud humming sound. 

 giving them the appearance of a dense sihery brown 

 mist springing up from the earth. In another instant 

 they are safe in the hedge and not a bird is visible. 

 In some instances the hawk is too intent on his prey 



