IN WiORKURT HOLLOW 57 



which renders its wearer invisible, and its presence 

 is said to be the cause why the nest is so seldom dis- 

 covered. 



In the absence of the stone the swallow can restore 

 sight to her young by means of the celandine, though 

 the charm perhaps hardly lingers in the more prosaic 

 plant of this incredulous age. More potent still is the 

 " springwort," whatever that may be, with which the 

 woodpecker can clear away obstructions from her nest. 

 Upon the wearer this herb of power confers resistless 

 strength, unlocks for him the strongest door, keeps in his 

 purse an inexhaustible supply. No wonder such a plant 

 is keenly sought for ! Nor is, perhaps, the wonder less 

 that the woodpeckers, watching from their covert in the 

 leaves the unskilfulness of the searchers, should deride 

 their useless toil with peals of mocking laughter. 



It is a pleasant myth that sees in the presence of the 

 swallow an omen of good fortune to the homestead. 

 Even in this sober age there are perhaps but few who 

 would copy the old pew-opener of a little church upon 

 the Severn, who, after lamenting that " they dirty birds 

 have been a-building again in the porch," added com- 

 placently, " but I've been working at them with a broom, 

 and I've daunted them ! " 



Nor do the swallows alone return. By long silent 

 ditches, whose slow-moving waters drain the moorland, 

 the sedge warbler sings again. Among the dry reeds 

 that rustle round him new points of green are springing, 

 and tiny flowers of ranunculus look like flakes of snow 

 upon the water. The wryneck pipes among the orchard 



