S54 



THE NATURE BOOK 



YOUNG BLACKBIRDS IN NEST. 



overcome such feelings and carefully pick 

 these degraded flies off the birds. The 

 flies are quite noticeable, having sickle- 

 shaped \vings, which are of no use for 

 flight. These flies being strong, and 

 the bird's beak being weak, it is im- 

 possible for the poor creature to get 

 rid of them, and so the chick weakens and 

 dies. It is among 

 the later brood 

 of Swallows and 

 Martins you will 

 generally find 

 this parasite ; the 

 reason is obvious, 

 the flies hax'ing 

 been gradually 

 multiplying dur- 

 ing the summer. 

 Even the best 

 of things are 

 puzzling at times. 

 To the average 

 man it is too 

 mu( h of a puzzle 

 to distinguish the 

 House -Martin 

 from the Swallow. 

 He gets f)ut of 

 the difficulty by 

 calling them both 

 Swallows. The 



photographs on pages 849 and 

 85 1 will help him. 



The Swallow, or " Chimney 

 Swallow," is clearly distinguished 

 from the House Martin by the 

 dark chestnut colour of the 

 throat. 



One of the greatest miracles 

 in Nature is the migration of 

 birds, and when we remember 

 that the Swallow tribe winter 

 vwn as far away as South Africa, 

 we can only mar\-el and admire. 

 Over these thousands of miles of 

 sea and land will a Swallow come 

 back in the spring, wafted by 

 the soft south winds, to its httle 

 nest perhaps in a byre, in a shep- 

 herd's shieling hidden away in 

 the Scottish hills. 



Just before going for " winter " 

 hohdays Swallows gather, as a 

 rule, near water, and it is this 

 strange habit that has most hkely 

 gi\'en rise to the stupid notion that they 

 hibernate in the mud or soft ground 

 beneath the water. Gilbert White in his 

 classical pages discusses this idea, and, 

 of course, refutes the possibility of such 

 a thing. 



One of the commonest, prettiest and 

 boldest of our British birds is the Chaffinch. 



WILD CHAFFINCHES ON A CKAB-APPLE TREE. 



