8 jackdaws' manoeuvres. 



back of the cove is like the receding slope of an 

 amphitheatre, on the grassy sides of which, half-covered 

 with furze-bushes, and tufts of the stinking Iris, and 

 brakes of fern, a few sheep were grazing. On the 

 northern side the cliffs of red conglomerate rise to a 

 great height ; and on looking up to the summit my eye 

 was caught by the Jackdaws, which were playing there, 

 and I sat down on a mass of rock partly hidden by fern 

 and brambles to watch their movements. A flock of 

 fifty or sixty, sometimes more, sometimes fewer, were 

 flying about a chasm near the lofty inaccessible summit, 

 now and then alighting in the fissures, then shooting 

 down into the air to join their comrades' play. They 

 uttered a short querulous call, more sharp and impa- 

 tient than the caw of the rook, and occasionally two 

 would engage in a sort of conversation, a rapid reite- 

 ration of the note. Now they disappeared one by one, 

 and presently they would come trooping round the 

 seaward face of the headland in little companies, as if 

 assembling by agreement, their glossy backs and wings 

 gleaming in the bright sun, play awhile in the air 

 about the chasm, then go again. The rough face of 

 the rock was partially concealed by large patches, 

 green and yellow, of ivy, reaching, irregularly and 

 interruptedly, from the very base to the top ; in the 

 upper parts of this, the daws would frequently rest 

 awhile, but not long. A Hawk, which from its size, 

 and the dark margin of its tail I took to be the Kestrel, 

 was hovering among the troop ; its superior ease and 

 grace of flight were very observable, though the daws 

 are birds of powerful wing. The latter were apparently 

 unfavourable to the intrusion of the suspicious stranger; 



