Swalloivs at the Front.



77



above our heads, but the Swallows slipped behind the rafters and

constructed their nests and laid their eggs quite unheeding our

presence. They would flutter about seeking insects, and often

perched for a long time on the telephone wires. They looked very

quaint trying to keep their balance in a high wind with their tails

and wings being jerked into all sorts of absurd angles by the

strength of the gale.


Both the hen and male birds appeared to share the trouble

of sitting. Sometimes the House Martin in possession of the nest

would put out a head and tweet as if annoyed that the mate did not

relieve it. They did not appear to feed each other, but would take

short turns in sitting. When the young were hatched both parent

birds seemed to devote the whole time to feeding the little ones.

The yoimg were the most voracious creatures I ever saw. They

would shriek with anxiety when they heard the beat of the returning

bird’s wing, and one would hang half out of the nest to prevent his

brothers and sisters getting anything. The feeding went on from

early dawn until almost too dark to see, and even then the youngsters

demanded more with peevish cries and squeaks.


Once the Germans shelled our position for an hour and a half

We retreated to some cellars which had been sandbagged aud waited

there until the bombardment stopped. The place was struck several

times, and one shell dropped into the cellars, but failed to explode,

and did no damage to anyone. When the “ strafing ” was all over we

found that one shot had taken off the greater part of the stable roof,,

the second had hit the end of the outhouse and demolished part of

the wall. The Swallows apparently did not care, for they were not

in the least perturbed by the noise of the shelling, and continued

feeding their young ones as if nothing had happened. Before the

day was over they were using the shell hole as a convenient entrance

through which to pass backwards and forwards with food for their

young.


When the young ones were old enough to leave their nests, we

were astonished to find that each nest had contained five birds that

appeared quite as large as their parents, except that they had no

tails; these, however, grew at an extraordinary rate, until they soon

■■equalled the parents’ forked ones. All the birds that lived on the



