50 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



speed and violence until the hunted bird took refuge 

 in one of the burrows. He then started chasing 

 another of the birds flying about, and in due time 

 this one was also driven into one of the holes. Then 

 a third chase began, then a fourth and so on until 

 every bird had been driven into a hole, -always after 

 a good deal of rushing about, and he remained alone. 

 After flying up and down a few times he finally flew 

 off, probably to some water-course or moist meadow 

 abounding in flies at a distance from the pit, where 

 he would join the other males of the colony. 



I remained for some time on the spot, keeping a 

 close watch on the little black burrows on the orange- 

 coloured sand-bank, but not a bird flew or even peeped 

 out ; nor did any of the absent birds return to the 

 pit. 



Is it a habit of this swallow in the breeding-time for 

 one male to remain behind when the others go away 

 to feed, and the females, or some of them, are still 

 off their eggs, just as, in other species, when the 

 company settles down to feed or sleep one keeps 

 awake and on guard ? The action of the swallow 

 in putting back the others on their eggs strikes one 

 as a development of some such habit or instinct as 

 that of the swift, and it is possible that in the sand- 

 martin the social habit is in a more advanced state 

 and the communities more close-knit than in most 

 species. But there is a good deal to learn yet about 

 the inner life of birds. 



Observers of animals are familiar with the fact of a 



