160 



IN NATURE'S WAYS 



other parties at the same time in his village ; Selborne 

 is not so favoured nowadays. One reason for the loss 

 of OUT swallows and martins is the cruel slaughter 

 which has been going on for 

 so long on the Continent, 

 where these birds have been 

 killed in thousands while 

 migrating, for food and for 

 the purposes of the milliner. 

 Another reason is the great 

 increase in the number of 

 our sparrows, who persecute 

 swallows and martins, and 

 destroy or take possession of 

 their nests. 



In the old days the swal- 

 lows seemed commonly to 

 build in chimneys there 

 was in Gilbert White's time 

 scarcely a single cottage 

 chimney without its swallow 

 but chimneys are smaller 

 now, and they prefer to 

 build under the eaves ; we 

 seldom hear them called 

 chimney -s wallows . 



The introduction of tele- 

 graph wires throughout the 

 land made another great 

 difference to the life-story 

 of our swallows. In Gilbert White 's day his swallows 

 held their great autumnal assemblies on trees. To-day 

 the swallows gather on the telegraph wires ; and if you 

 take a long journey by any main road through England 

 in September, you now see the swallows in separate 



The fate of the early arrival 



