274 Summer Studies of Birds and Books CHAP. 



and, as they neared the headland, rose in the air 

 higher and higher, not seeming to move onwards for 

 a while, but simply circling round and rising, and 

 then, at a great height, they set off over the sea in the 

 direction of the Isle of Wight. I followed them with 

 the glass till they were such tiny specks that it was 

 painful to try and keep them in view. The cliffs of 

 the island were at this time very distinctly visible. 

 I watched one or two more parties follow in the same 

 track ; but I was not alone and could not stay long 

 my kind host was with me, and friendship forbade 

 that I should weary him. It was not until the 

 morning of the 9th that I was at liberty to spend 

 an hour or two in the same spot in solitude. 



As I left the house that morning the hills were 

 hidden in a soft mist, nor could I see anything of the 

 Isle of Wight ; and it did not occur to me at the 

 moment that this might have some effect on the course 

 adopted by the birds. I was consequently rather 

 taken by surprise, when I reached the cliffs about a 

 mile west of Durlstone and watched the first party 

 that passed me, to find that, instead of rising in the 

 air and going out to sea, they turned back when they 

 came near the headland, and still skimming close to 

 the ground, and passing close to me as I sat sheltered 

 from the wind under a wall, they made northwards 

 over the hill towards the town of Swanage. After 

 waiting a while, I saw another party take exactly the 



