76



H. Thoburn-Clabke,



prayers to the sharp, insistent boom of the guns and the whistle of

the bursting shrapnel from the “ guns the foe were sullenly firing.”

A scene to live in one’s memory for ever.


The next day the Swallows and House Martins had arrived in

full force, and were twittering and circling round the eaves, flying

in and out of the ruined houses and barns. Although the surge of

battle had ebbed and flowed round these buildings and the whole

aspect of the place had materially changed since the Swallows and

Martins had left France and Flanders in the autumn, the change did

not trouble them in the least. At one ruin I noticed them flying

joyously in and out of a great shell hole, and later on I saw several

pairs of Martins hurriedly nest building on the walls of a drawing¬

room, the ceiling of which had been swept away with the exception of

a handsomely moulded cornice. No doubt this, to their mind, repre¬

sented an ideal kind of eave. But it seemed strange to see the nests

plastered above a fat baby Cupid, very pink and rosy, nestling among

flowers, and entwined with true-lover’s knots of blue ribbon painted

on the panelled walls of a room where once stately dames and their

friends had held high revel. The Martins twittered happily, adding

tiny lumps of mud to the fast building nest, unheeding the associa¬

tions of their surroundings.


The roads were very dry and dusty at the time, and the

Martins would fly down to the clay near the horse troughs and

wait until some water was spilt upon the ground ; then they would

gather mouth and throat full of the softened mud and fly back to

their nests. The mode of adding the mouthfuls was for the Martin

to cling to the wall, the tail acting as a prop to hold it in position.

Then, working the beautiful white throat, the bird appeared to mix

the saliva and mud, and then eject a small quantity on to the position

selected. As soon as a ridge wide enough to perch upon had been

built, the Martin sat on this and worked at the nest from the inside.

As fast as one bird emptied its throat the other took its place, and

went on with the task. They appeared to devote all the early part

of the morning to nest building, the rest of the day to collecting

food and resting.


The Swallows built several nests on the rafter of a big out¬

house which we used as a harness-room. The nests were only just



