126 IN BIRD-LAND 



short sharp cry of defiance difficult to express in 

 writing. 



This pair of Hawks, I believe, rear their brood in 

 the same place in each successive year, for I have 

 repeatedly seen them in that part of the wood in 

 the nesting season. The wood itself I do not 

 name for obvious reasons. 



Between haying-time and corn harvest, young 

 Swallows will be heard twittering in the meadows, 

 the most likely place to see them being on the 

 dead branch of one of the large oaks, or on the 

 wands of the sallows. Sitting in a row, these 

 growing songsters twitter sweetly while waiting 

 for food to be brought to them. In the time 

 between their frequent meals, they are engaged in 

 preening their feathers. When the parents come 

 with supplies, they do not settle on the branch, but 

 hover in front of the young birds, and so feed them 

 in what seems to be a singular way. One or two 

 of the brood will leave the tree and follow their 

 parents ; and when enough food has been collected, 

 the old birds feed the young ones in the air, both 

 hovering for a moment ; and then the young, while 

 seeming to twitter their thanks, will return to their 

 perch in the oak to rest. 



Later in the season, or in early autumn, before 

 fading leaves become tinted with russet and gold 



