Birds by Land and Sea 



clamber back showed the swifts playing backwards 

 and forwards before their nests at the cliff head ; and 

 beneath a ledge several hundred feet up could be 

 seen a line of little red-earth nests where a colony of 

 martins had fixed their abode. 



By the time I reached the slanting slab leading 

 to the valley above, the day was drawing to a close ; 

 and as I climbed the slope from the valley, a black 

 string of jackdaws was making a short cut on a high 

 line across the land from the strait where they had 

 been feeding during the day, and as they arrived, 

 cawing all along the line, one after another slipped 

 into all but invisible cracks high up on the west face 

 of the cliff, and disappeared like those upon whom 

 a door shuts suddenly. When the last of these was 

 housed [for the night, the simpler cormorants were 

 still urging their flight up the strait and along the 

 north coast, performing two sides of the triangle by 

 sea instead of one by land. 



By the time 1 had reached the top of the cliff, 

 the gully below was already full, and the slab where 

 I had stood was covered by the sea. A couple of 

 hours and all would be black down there, the risen 

 waters pounding away in the hole where kittiwake 

 and guillemot slept. Truly, they have a world of 

 their own birds that rest upon the restless sea, and 

 are at peace in the wind-swept, tide-smitten rocks. 



Although when at home I see the kestrel almost 

 daily during the autumn and earlier spring months, 

 I had to come to the coast to find them nesting. 



216 



