SWIFTS, SWALLOWS AND MARTINS 
inevitable. Their escapes from collision are 
marvellous ; but the birds are not infallible, 
as is shown by the untoward fate of a swallow 
in Sussex. In an old garden in that county 
there had for many years been an open door- 
way with no door, and through the open space 
the swallows had been wont, year after year, 
to fly to and fro on their hunting trips. Then 
came a fateful winter during which a new 
owner took it into his head to put up a fresh 
gate and to keep it locked, and, as ill luck 
would have it, he painted it blue, which, in 
the season of fine weather, probably height- 
ened the illusion. Back came the happy 
swallows to their old playground, and one of 
the pioneers flew headlong at the closed gate 
and fell stunned and dying on the ground, a 
minor tragedy that may possibly come as a 
surprise to those who regard the instincts of 
wild birds as unerring. 
That the young swallows leave our shores 
before their elders late in August or early 
in September is an established fact, and the 
instinct which guides them aright over land 
and sea, without assistance from those more 
experienced, is nothing short of amazing. 
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