MAGPIE FIELDS. 171 



Often as one was sailing on another approached and 

 interfered with his course when they wheeled about 

 each other. Soon one dived. Holding his wings at 

 full stretch and rigid, he dived headlong rotating as 

 he fell till his beak appeared as if it would be driven 

 into the ground by the violence of the descent. But 

 within twenty feet of the earth he recovered himself 

 and rose again. Most of these dives, for they all 

 seemed to dive in turn, were made over the favourite 

 oak, and they did not rise till they had gone down to 

 its branches. Many appeared about to throw them- 

 selves against the boughs. 



Whether they wheeled round in circles, or whether 

 they dived, or simply sailed onward in the air, they 

 did it in pairs. As one was sweeping round another 

 came to him. As one sailed straight on a second 

 closely followed. After one had dived the other soon 

 followed, or waited till he had come up and rejoined 

 him. They danced and played in couples as if they 

 were paired already. Some left the main body and 

 steered right away from their friends, but turned and 

 came back, and in about half an hour they all de- 

 scended and settled in the oak from which they had 

 risen. A loud cawing and jack-juck-jucking accom- 

 panied this sally. 



The same day it could be noticed how the shadows 

 of the elms cast by the bright sunshine on the grass, 

 which is singularly fresh and green this autumn, had 

 a velvety appearance. The dark shadow on the fresh 

 green looked soft as velvet. The waters of the brook 

 had become darker now; they flowed smooth, and 

 at the brink reflected a yellow spray of horse-chest- 



