THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS 63 



in which, at dusk, the swifts fly and screech round the 

 dark buildings that they haunt. The birds stay 

 only a short time, and rear but one brood. They 

 leave this country by the end of August or the be- 

 ginning of September, returning to Africa, whence 

 they return to us. The birds both feed and collect 

 their building material on the wing, being unable 

 to rise from a flat surface; this we have had the 

 opportunity of proving time and again, although 

 the fact is denied by some ornithologists. 



The swallows are the pioneers of the great host of 

 insect-eating birds which annually visit this country, 

 and they themselves cleanse the air of myriads of 

 pests which, if allowed to live, might do incalculable 

 harm. 



THE CUCKOO 



THE cuckoo is quite a Bohemian among birds, and it 

 is perhaps owing to its vagrant habits that there yet 

 remain several points in its life-history which have 

 still to be cleared up. The birds come to our shores 

 with the warm winds of April, progressing by early 

 stages, and disperse themselves over the country. 

 Wordsworth dispossessed the bird of a corporeal 

 existence; and to him it was but a voice, a mystery. 

 It is true that it seeks the cool greenery and summer 



