BIRDS AND MAN 59 



wild expression. With all her stillness the poor 

 bird must have been in an agony of terror and 

 suspense, and I wondered how long she would 

 endure the tension. She stood it for about fifty 

 seconds, then burst screaming away with such 

 violence that her seven or eight chicks were 

 flung in all directions to a distance of two or 

 three feet like little balls of fluff; and going 

 twenty yards away she dropped to the ground 

 and began beating her wings, calling loudly. 



I then walked on, and in three or four minutes 

 was on the green ground in the thick of the 

 swallows. They were in hundreds, flying at 

 various heights, but mostly low, so that I 

 looked down on them, and they certainly formed 

 a curious and beautiful spectacle. So thick were 

 they, and so straight and rapid their flight, that 

 they formed in appearance a current, or rather 

 many currents, flowing side by side in opposite 

 directions ; and when viewed with nearly closed 

 eyes the birds were like black lines on the green 

 surface. They were silent except for the occa- 

 sional weak note of the sand-martin ; and through 

 it all they were perfectly regardless of me, 

 whether I stood still or walked about among 



