SHARP EYES. 49 



into a crack in a dry timber in a hay -loft, and, with 

 spread wings, ending its existence. 



When the air is damp and heavy, swallows fre- 

 quently hawk for insects about cattle and moving 

 herds in the field. My farmer describes how they 

 attended him one foggy day, as he was mowing in the 

 meadow with a mowing-machine. It had been foggy 

 for two days, and the swallows were very hungry, 

 and the insects stupid and inert. When the sound of 

 his machine was heard, the swallows appeared and at- 

 tended him like a brood of hungry chickens. He 

 says there was a continued rush of purple wings over 

 the "cut-bar," and just where it was causing the 

 grass to tremble and fall. Without his assistance the 

 swallows would doubtless have gone hungry yet an- 

 other day. 



Of the hen-hawk, he has observed that both male 

 and female take part in incubation. " I was rather 

 surprised," he says, "on one occasion, to see how 

 quickly they change places on the nest. The nest 

 was in a tall beech, and the leaves were not yet 

 fully out. I could see the head and neck of the 

 hawk over the edge of the nest, when I saw the 

 other hawk coming down through the air at full 

 speed. I expected he would alight near by, but in- 

 stead of that he struck directly upon the nest, his 

 mate getting out of the way barely in time to avoid 

 being hit ; it seemed almost as if he had knocked her 

 off the nest. I hardly see how they can make such a 

 rush on the nest without danger to the eggs." 

 4 



