122 Bird -Lore spectacle ensues. At first it looks as if confusion reigned, but soon the hosts of fleet-winged birds no longer whirl aimlessly through space. All mass and muster, and perform strange evolutions with amazing swiftness and precision. Now we see them scattering and spreading over the whole area on which they intend to roost, appa- rently to make sure that no danger lurks beneath the grasses. Here they come, skimming, almost touching, the spartina, pass by, and speed onward until lost to sight for a few moments, when all at once a great cloud of moving specks is visible in the distant sky. The specks are Swallows, and the cloud has life ; it moves, it rolls, it swells, it conies, it breaks and, like a torrent of wing-borne arrows, darts upon us, scattering and spreading out, as it descends for another wild dash low over the spartina. The same wonderful maneuvers repeat themselves as long as the evening twilight lasts, and, though with each descent the cloud does shrink in size, it does not cease to rise again until black night has fully settled down, and even after dark small droves of be- wildered birds rush madly by our side. Being well within the range of the now settled birds, we cannot go away without disturbing some in their repose ; although they are dispersed over a large area, every now and then one will be seen to scamper out and vanish in the darkness. VOUNG EUROPEAN MARTINS AND XEST Photographed from nature by '* C. R."
