SWALLOWS AND CHURCHES 187 



in the more elastic air coming to it from that direction, 

 flew straight from the other side of the room and 

 passed out. Its action appeared to show that the 

 swallow, in spite of its feathery covering, has an almost 

 bat-like sensitiveness to enable it in unusual circum- 

 stances to avoid striking against any object in its 

 flight. It has been observed that bats flying round 

 in a dimly-lighted room were not deceived by the light 

 coming through a pane of glass ; but, on the other 

 hand, they would flutter before a keyhole or any other 

 small aperture through which a current of out-door 

 air could come. This exquisite sensitiveness of the 

 bat's wing, which is nerve as well as organ of flight, 

 is a corrective of vision, which is liable in all creatures 

 to deception. That the swallow, too, should be found 

 possessed of this additional sense, came to me as a 

 surprise. 



At Ditchling the extraordinary abundance of swallow 

 and swift life interested me more than the ancient 

 traditional yarns about Alfred the Great's connection 

 with the village ; and, a long time after, that of Anne 

 of Cleves (poor thing !), who, as a divorced lady, appears 

 to have inhabited a good many houses in these parts. 

 The church of this same village is greatly admired 

 by artists as well as by antiquarians ; it also possessed 

 that which to my mind made it the most perfect 

 sacred edifice in all the downs district — namely, a 

 family of white owls, strictly protected by the parson, 

 tamer than most birds of their kind. 



