WAGTAILS, FLYCATCHERS, ETC. 53 



However, by hiding, I managed to see the 

 nestlings fed, and noticed that though they 

 were very vociferous when they guessed there 

 was an immediate prospect of their hunger 

 being satisfied, a warning note from the old 

 bird seemed to silence them at once. 



For a good many years a pair of swallows 

 have nested in the porch of the new church, 

 and in 1910 an old trimmed straw hat that 

 hung on a nail in an outbuilding at the 

 church-house was chosen by another pair as 

 a suitable foundation for their nest, and in 

 this rather strangely-placed nursery they 

 brought up a young family. 



There is something very charming in the 

 swallow's warbling song, beyond its associa- 

 tion with warm and beautiful weather; and 

 when in autumn they are congregating by 

 thousands, to hear them all chanting together 

 as they fill the air, and, sailing round and 

 round in widening and interlacing circles, 

 mount higher and higher until the highest 

 are almost out of sight, is to my mind wonder- 

 fully grand and impressive. 



Sometimes the swallows melt away without 

 any noticeable gatherings, while in other 

 years they assemble in such flocks about the 

 end of September that in certain favourite 

 hunting grounds the sky is almost darkened 

 by them, and to watch the intricate maze of 

 perpetual motion is enough to make one 

 giddy, while as at intervals they sit resting, 



