THE FERN-OWL. 2?? 



after year to watch the Starlings*, was formerly a source 

 of equal interest respecting Swallows ; nests were snugly 

 concealed in sheltered nooks, the belfry itself being a 

 favourite resort, notwithstanding the frequent peals which 

 might have shaken the nerves of less determined birds : 

 and a few days before their final departure, it was 

 pleasant to watch them marshalling their newly-fledged 

 broods along the projecting dripstones and mouldings 

 on the eastern side of the old gray tower, enjoying the 

 morning sun. As the numbers collected seemed far to 

 exceed those which were reared there, it appeared as if 

 the united broods of the neighbourhood had, by common 

 consent, fixed upon it as a favoured central rendezvous. 

 All was exhilaration, a perpetual twittering was kept 

 up ; a few of the old ones would, after flying in circles 

 round the battlements, pass screaming by the reposing 

 ranks of young ones, and then, as if by word of com- 

 mand, the whole body would sweep from their resting- 

 places, and in loud chorus take a wider circuit, as if to 

 try their powers ; and then in an instant crowd again 

 together, and rest as before. But those days are gone 

 by ; year after year the numbers have fallen off, and at 

 present we are not aware of even a single nest. 



There may be, however, some solitary exceptions to 

 their diminution ; one indeed fell under our observation, 

 on the 17th of June, 1833, when we were delighted with 

 a little colony of upwards of fifty nests, attached in closest 

 order beneath the eaves of a lone public-house, called 

 " Gates' Cabin," between Stamford and Huntingdon, in 

 the parish of Chestertont. 



* See page 230. 



+ There are some interesting circumstances connected with this public- 

 house which may be worth recording. The name of Cates' Cabin, being 

 derived from Catius, the officer who commanded the station at the great 

 Roman Camp, mentioned by Camden and Stukeley. The sign of this 

 inn has also its peculiar interest, being the head of Dry den, painted by 

 Sir William Beechey in his early days, under the following circum- 

 stances : About 400 yards from Cates' Cabin, stood a fine old manor 

 house, built in the reign of James I., the seat of the Drydeus, collaterals of 

 the poet. This estate descended to a Mr. Pigott (through his mother, a 

 Dryden} of the family of Pigott of Chetwynd, in Salop, who was in his 



