A Cool, Gray Day. 199 



see no insect life whatever, and yet hundreds of 

 tireless swallows are passing to and fro incessantly. 

 Their activity demands an enormous supply of 

 food, and, were it not here, the birds would not be. 

 Sitting so closely to the water's surface, there is 

 every chance to observe closely whatsoever is 

 transpiring, and how different is the outlook from 

 the ordinary point of view, as one sits bolt upright 

 in an ordinary boat ! Nothing now is clearly 

 familiar ; while to bring about still greater novelty, 

 it is necessary only to bend over quite to the 

 water, and so reverse the relative positions of 

 earth and sky. It is a quick way of transporting 

 yourself to another country ; but do not try this 

 when in a canoe ; it may lead to other conditions 

 being reversed. But the swallows : they are mar- 

 vellously tame. A more innocent and harmless 

 bird cannot be imagined, and yet I confess, to sit 

 helpless in a canoe and have them come directly 

 towards your eyes with the speed of a bullet is 

 not a pleasant sensation. We do not like to be 

 forced to wink or to toss the head suddenly to 

 one side. There may have been no danger of an 

 accident ; there was none ; but I felt the wind from 



