BIRDS AND MAN 57 



ago, while standing in the churchyard at Farnham, 

 in Surrey, watching a bunch of ten or twelve 

 swifts racing through the air, I noticed that on each 

 return to the church they followed the same hne, 

 doubhng round the tower on the same side, then 

 sweeping down close to the surface, and mounting 

 again. Going to the spot I put myself directly 

 in their way — on their race-course as it were, at 

 that point where it touched the earth ; but they 

 did not on that account vary their route ; each 

 time they came back they streamed screaming past 

 my head so near as almost to brush my face with 

 their wings. But I was never more struck by 

 the unconcern at the presence of man shown by 

 these birds — swallows, martins, and swifts — as on 

 one occasion at Frensham, when the birds were 

 very numerous. This was in the month of May, 

 about five weeks after I had witnessed the fight 

 between two rabbits, and the wonderful com- 

 posure exhibited by a covey of partridges through 

 it all. It was on a close hot morning, after a 

 night of rain, when, walking down to Frensham 

 Great Pond, I saw the birds hawking about near 

 the water. The may-flies were just out, and in 

 some mysterious way the news had been swiftly 



