1891.
July 2
(No 2)
England.
Tintern. - two young unable to fly on the ground
within the Abbey. They had probably fallen from 
the nest which she thought was in some ivy near
the top of the wall. I watched and listened for
the old birds both last evening and this until it
was nearly dark but heard nothing and saw only 
a few bats.
  I have rarely seen anything more impressive than
the arrival of the Jackdaws at this ruin each
evening a little before sunset. During the day there
are always more or less of them perched on the
tops of the walls and arches or entering and emerging
from the holes which contain their nests but at
not time are more than ten or a dozen in sight.
At about 7 P.M., however, the evening flight appears
 - fully 200 birds at an immense height in the
air and in a close flock like starlings, their
mellow, whistling calls which closely resemble the
flight-note of our Martin but are deeper and richer
in tone filling the air. Then one after another in
quick succession they shoot down five or six
hundred feet nearly vertically [deleted]but not very swiftly,
rather[/deleted] like parachutes, wings held above their backs
tails spread and raised. The first part of the
descent is straight and not especially swift
but as the bird gains momentum it glides
down the sky inclining to one side or the
other and describing a broad spiral to check
its speed just before it reaches its perch.
In less than a minute the entire flock has
made the descent and clustered in sable masses