150 SECOND ViSIT VIO THE: NORTHCr KENT 
We soon got to the barn in which the swal- 
lows had built (see p. 102), and having more 
time at our disposal this time, Ted investiga- 
ted some of them. Mounting one of the carts 
he was able to reach a cross beam, and being 
as nimble as a monkey, was soon on to it 
and produced for my inspection some of 
the white purply-red spotted swallow’s eggs 
(see Part II, p. 187). Close by a solemn old 
farm cat sat on the post of the garden gate 
leading to the farmhouse, watching us. He 
would have liked, doubtless, to have been able 
to get up to the swallows’ nests as easily as 
Ted had done. Did his expression imply 
this, or did his ‘ Ha! I’ve eaten the canary’ 
look mean that he had already had a good 
meal of some bird or other? (I can never 
fathom what a cat means as it stares at you ; 
one always seems to know, however, what a 
dog wants to say.) 
We were still on the flats, with its waving 
fields of wheat and barley. The hills rose 
behind, inviting us to climb them. Close 
here was the nest of the long-tailed tit, men- 
