SWALLOW-TIME. 97 



this sound. While I was thinking in this way a swallow 

 alighted on the turf, picked up a small white moth from 

 among the short grass, and went off with it. In gloomy 

 overcast weather the swallows at the sea-side frequently 

 alight on the pebbles of the beach to pick up the insects 

 which will not rise and fly. Some beaches and sand- 

 banks are much frequented by insects, and black clouds 

 of them sometimes come drifting along, striking the face 

 like small hail. 



When swallows fly low, just skimming the ground, it 

 is supposed to be a sign of rain. During the frequent 

 intervals of heavy, overcast weather which have marked 

 this summer, they might have been observed flying low 

 for a week together without a spot of rain falling. 

 Chilly air drives insects downwards, and, indeed, para- 

 IVM-S a great many of them altogether. It is a fall of 

 temperature, and not wet, that makes the swallows chase 

 their prey low down. Insects are not much afraid of 

 rain if it is warm and soft, so that in the midst of showers, 

 if there is sunshine too, you may sec the swallows high 

 in the atmosphere. It is when they fly low, but just 

 missing the grass, that their wonderful po\\crs of flight 

 appear. In the air above there are no obstacles, and if 

 you shoot an arrow it travels to the end of its journey 

 without let or hindrance ; there are no streets there to 

 turn corners, no narrow lanes, no trees or hedges. When 

 the swallow comes down to the earth his path is no 

 longer that of the immortals, his way is as the way of 

 men, constantly obstructed, and made a thousandfold 

 more difficult by the velocity of his passage. Imagine 

 shooting an arrow from the strongest bow in such a 

 manner that it might travel about seven inches above 

 the ground how far would it go before it would strike 

 a tall buttercup, a wiry bennet, or stick into a slight rise 



II 



