130 IN NATURE'S WAYS 



glide beyond the sparrows' limited powers of flight. 

 Even the martins themselves may often make several 

 attempts before accomplishing the difficult feat of 

 flight they have set themselves. Then one also sees 

 the sparrows vainly attempting the glide to the nest, 

 fluttering about in an eager, angry way to the 

 martin's great indignation and fear. 



Many are the stories told of this warfare between 

 the strong, pugnacious sparrows and the light-as-air 

 martins. One summer a martin's nest in which we 

 were taking an interest was besieged by sparrows, for a 

 long while unavailingly. But they persevered, and 

 after many weeks, when the martin's first clutch of 

 eggs had been hatched, mastered at last the peculiar 

 trick of flight needed for landing on the nest, which 

 was situated far beneath a projecting eave. Then they 

 stormed the citadel, took it by force, and, actually 

 before horrified onlookers' eyes, ejected the baby 

 martins one by one, and not content with throwing 

 them to the ground, fell upon them there, and killed 

 them as they lay helpless and dying. They then 

 calmly occupied the conquered mud-castle. 



But there are stories to be told showing how martins 

 may take revenge on their persecutors. Years ago 

 some sparrows had hatched their young in a martin's 

 nest at Hampton Court. Soon afterwards there 

 appeared at the nest a number of martins who in a 

 body proceeded to attack the two sparrows ; out- 

 numbering them, they set about pecking the nest to 

 pieces, and massacring the unfledged young. 



Another old story of the nests at Hampton Court 

 tells how a pair of swallows were driven from their 

 home by a pair of sparrows. The hen sparrow duly 

 laid her eggs in the swallow's nest. While she was 

 sitting one day, several martins flew up, and set to 



