THE SWALLOW 107 



sold there, whereas the massacre of Swallows is illeg, i. 

 On the top was a layer of Larks, underneath were 

 Swallows only. ' These I can do cheaper," he said. 



The Midland farmer I alluded to before, Mr. E. 

 Hancock, who writes to me at times, and who has 

 commented on the few Swallows about, sends me a story 

 of a pair nesting in his bedroom. They built over a 

 picture frame, brought out their young successfully, 

 and the youngsters having gone out into the wide world, 

 the two parent birds remained in the home. One roosted 

 regularly on a clock in the bedroom, the other upon the 

 picture frame. It is possible that this pair, or one of 

 them, was hatched out on the picture at Great Dealings 

 House, Suffolk, of which I have written elsewhere. 

 Who can tell ? A few days ago they began cleaning, 

 relining and repairing the nest, making all ready for 

 the coming of their second brood. 



Lady Farren had little silver rings put on the young 

 of the second brood hatched over the portrait in the 

 bedroom at Great Dealings. A bird, with the ring still 

 on came to breed in that same place two years later. 



The poor Swallows often suffer terribly from storms 

 and unseasonable weather coming after they have left 

 their warm winter quarters. Mr. Poole, of Haling, told 

 me that being at his angling quarters on the river 

 Kennet, Ham Dridge, near Newbury, on April 25, 1908, 

 at 8.15 a.m., he saw Martins and Swallows hawking 

 flies, most probably the grannow, as there had been 

 some previous hatches of this fly noticed. The season 

 earlier had been a warm one and these birds had arrived 

 early. 



It was snowing hard at the time, and had been doing 

 so for some few hours, and three or four inches of snow 



