S IVALLO IV- TIME. 97 



i this sound. While I was thinking in this way a swallow 



i alighted on the turf, picked up a small white moth from 



I among the short grass, and went off with it. In gloomy 



overcast weather the swallows at the sea-side frequently 



alight on the pebbles of the beach to pick up the insects 



which will not rise and fly. Some beaches and sand- 



j banks are much frequented by insects, and black clouds 



; of them sometimes come drifting along, striking the face 



I like small hail. 



When swallows fly low, just skimming the ground, it 



' is supposed to be a sign of rain. During the frequent 



. intervals of heavy, overcast weather which have marked 



this summer, they might have been observed flying low 



for a week together without a spot of rain falling. 



Chilly air drives insects downwards, and, indeed, para- 



I lyses a great many of them altogether. It is a fall of 



i temperature, and not wet, that makes the swallows chase 



their prey low down. Insects are not much afraid of 



rain if it is warm and soft, so that in the midst of showers, 



, if there is sunshine too, you may see the swallows high 



' in the atmosphere. It is when they fly low, but just 



missing the grass, that their wonderful powers of flight 



appear. In the air above there are no obstacles, and if 



you shoot an arrow it travels to the end of its journey 



without let or hindrance ; there are no streets there to 



turn corners, no narrow lanes, no trees or hedges. When 



the swallow comes down to the earth his path is no 



longer that of the immortals, his way is as the way of 



men, constantly obstructed, and made a thousandfold 



more difficult by the velocity of his passage. Imagine 



shooting an arrow from the strongest bow in such a 



manner that it might travel about seven inches above 



the ground — how far would it go before it would strike 



a tall buttercup, a wiry ben net, or stick into a slight rise 



H 



