CHAPTER XXX 

 THE SWALLOWS 



ALL four of the " swallows " (as the fenmen call swallows 

 and martins indiscriminately) frequent the Broadland, and 

 by their form and flight and gentle twitterings add life and 

 grace and elegance to the Broads and marshlands. 



The first to come over is the swallow, a few stragglers 

 appearing early in April, each bright bird's arrival being 

 passed on from mouth to mouth, for he is an earnest 

 of spring, a promise of flowers and love and hawthorn- 

 sprinkled lanes. He is the most patent outward and visible 

 sign of coming spring, though the seer has been expecting 

 him for some days; for has he not noticed the midges 

 dancing over the dikes and sappy marsh plants, and the 

 swallow never comes before they appear. It is remarkable 

 how regularly a few swallows and house-martins arrive, 

 and then follows a lull of a fortnight before the main body 

 come over, and begin hawking for flies over the still waters 

 of the lagoons, whence the lily leaves are rising and the 

 young reed-cases peeping forth. And often after his arrival 

 a cold wave sweeps over the face of the land, filling the 

 thrushes' nests with snow and sleet, cutting down the flies, 

 and so starving the swallows, whom you can find lying dead 

 by the roads and dikes, or see flying numbly a few feet over 

 the hard resounding rimy marsh. 



And daily in early spring, as you sail through these quiet 

 waters, you will see the handsome swallow flying over the 



water in search of midges; and as the sun gains strength and 



85 



