308 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



going off at a great pace, instead of which back they 

 come in a minute or two. Other birds fly for a pur- 

 pose : the peewit seems to find enjoyment beating to 

 and fro in the air. 



Crows frequently build in oaks, and unless they are 

 driven away by shot will return to the same neighbour- 

 hood the following year. They appear to prefer places 

 near water, and long after the nesting-time is past will 

 visit the spot. Small birds will sometimes angrily 

 pursue them through the air, as they will hawks. As 

 autumn approaches the swallows congregate on warm 

 afternoons on church steeples ; they may be seen 

 whirling round and round in large flocks, and presently 

 settling. I saw a crow go past a steeple a short time 

 since where there was a crowd of swallows, when 

 immediately the whole flock took wing, and circled 

 about the crow, following him for some distance. He 

 made an awkward attempt once to get at some of them, 

 but their swiftness of wing took them far out of his 

 reach. Crows make no friends ; rooks, on the con- 

 trary, make many, and are often accompanied by 

 several other species of birds. A certain friendliness, 

 too, seems to exist between sparrows, chaffinches, and 

 greenfinches, which are often found together. 



Some fields are divided into two by a long line of 

 posts and rails, which in time become gray from the 

 lichen growing on the wood. The cuckoos in spring 

 seem to like resting on such rails better than the 

 hedges ; and when they are courting, two, or even 

 three, may be sometimes seen on them together. 



