226 A FARMER'S YEAR 



almost as difficult as it was in the case of the carrots here, and for 

 the same reason. I walked through the eight-acre pasture, 

 No. 1 1, which is set for hay and promises a good crop, and in 

 doing so came across two large rings of extraordinarily rich grass 

 where grow many toadstools. I cannot understand why the grass 

 in these fairy-rings, as they are called, should be so much more 

 lush than that about it, or why the toadstools should spring in 

 such a perfect circle. 



Last night we had a great trouble with the swallows in the 

 porch. As I opened the door to see out some friends who had 

 been dining here, one of the swallows, attracted by the light of 

 the lamp, flew from the nest straight into the house and up the 

 well of the staircase, where it began to flutter about in a piteous 

 fashion. Fearing lest it should burn itself or break its wings, 

 I extinguished the lamps and set the windows open, believing 

 that in the quiet of the early morning it would find its way out. 

 When I got up, about seven o'clock, however, there was the poor 

 little thing still perched upon a buffalo horn. In vain did I make 

 the most desperate endeavours to coax it out of the house ; it 

 would only flutter round the ceiling or knock itself against the top 

 of the window, until I thought that it must die of exhaustion. 

 After a while I fetched a landing-net and tried to capture it, but 

 it was too quick for me. At last, just as, wearied out, I was 

 thinking of abandoning the business in despair, much to my relief 

 an accidental dip took it through the open window. When I came 

 down to breakfast I found it sitting very dazed on the railings 

 opposite the house. Meanwhile the mate, untroubled by the 

 absence of its partner, had been diligently building at their nest, 

 and as, after the terrifying experiences of its night out, it could 

 not, or would not, assist in that domestic duty, the other flew to 

 it on the railings, and sat there, twittering and scolding, till it 

 plucked up courage to skim away and secure a light breakfast of 

 flies. By the afternoon it had recovered so completely that, in 

 watching them at work, I could not tell which of the pair was the 

 captive of the night before. 



