154 THE SWALLOW 



ciiits, lliiowing- out cries of appeal, then reapj)earing at 

 the other eiul of the street, bringing up many new-comers, 

 wliicli h'kc quarter-masters, woukl inspect every corner 

 and then disappear Hkewise. Every morning the band in- 

 cieased considerably. You would have thought they 

 were experimenting on the preliminaries of departure, 

 and that the messengers had been ordered to indicate 

 to all the place of final congregation. 



Evidently the collective departure of these birds ne- 

 cessitates a number of private meetings and an agreement 

 prepared long beforehand. Even if we admit certain 

 mysterious presentiments, it would be absurd to believe 

 that instinct alone, so to say mechanical, could make all 

 the swallows of one region congregate together at the 

 same time and the same place. This displacement of a 

 whole population of birds can only be explained by a 

 series of rather complex reasoning and by a special sort 

 of language, establishing prompt communication between 

 individuals of the same species. Who assumes the 

 responsibility of the meeting? who chooses the hour of 

 departure and the j)lace of congregating? Probably the 

 elders of the tribe, those who have had most experience. 



It is well known that swallows come back faith- 

 fully every year to the same quarters and the same nest. 

 Therefore, there must exist in everv borough, in every 

 town, some old patriarchs well ac([uainted with ail 

 variations of climate, with all local resources, with the 



