The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1897-02-20
MIGRATING SWALLOWS.
Watching Their Flight Along the
Thames On a Rainy Evening.


Watching Their Flight Along the
Thames On a Rainy Evening.
If the late Mr. Seebohin had wit
messed the scene which I did on the
evening Of Sept. Is, he might have
added chapter to that on the migra-
ton night on Heligoland, which is the
locus classicus of that branch Of orni-
thology.
1t was dark. dripping evening, and
the thick osier bed on Cheswick Eyot
was covered with wet leaf Between
and 6 o'clock immense flights Of
swallows and martins suddenly ap-
peared above the eyOt, arriving, not in
hundreds, but in thousands and tens
Of thousands. The air was thick with
them, and their numbers increased
from minute to minute. Part drifted
above, in clouds, twisting round like
SCOT in a smoke wreath. Thousands
kept sweeping just over the tops of
the willows, skimming so thickly that
the skyline was almost blotted out for
the height of from three to four feet
The quarter from which these armies
of swallows came was at first undis-
coverable. They might have been
hatched, like gnats, from the river
In time l discovered whence they
came. They were literally dropping
cling at height at which they We're
quite invisible in the cloudy air, and
from minute to minute they kept drop
ularly to the very surface of the river
Nr Of If Hf fo1-S
dropped from tie invisible regions 70
the lawn on the river bank on which
I stood. Without exaggeration l may
say I saw them fall from the sky. for
I was looking upward, and saw them
when first visible as descending specks.
The plunge was perpendicular, till they
were within ten yards Of the ground.
Soon the high-fying crowds of birds.
drew down and swept for few min
utes low over the willows, from end to
end Of the eyot, with sound like the
rush of water in a hydraulic pipe
Then by a common impulse the whole
mass settled down from end to end Of
the island, upon the osiers. Those in
the center of the eyot were black with
swallows-like the black blight on,
beans. Next morning, at G:30 O'Clock,
every swallow was gone. In half al
hours watching not 4 bird was seen.
Whether they went on during the night
or started at dawn I know not. Prob
ably the latter, for Gilbert White once
found a heath covered with such a
flock of migra ting swallows, which did
not leave till the sun dispelled the.
mists. The whole army are now. [
hope, catching gnats in the Nile valley
or beyond the Atlas nlountains.-Cor-
respondence Of the London Times.
A Motion to Amend:
Those people out in Colorado are GER
tainly stuck on silver. Now, the last
time I was out there attended church
on Sunday, as always do. The min
lister was one of the good, old-style
Methodists. He'd grown up in the
country, though, and called spade a
spade when it was necessary. He had
reached his peroration, ''and when the
last day shall have come he said,
and we shall have knocked on the
pearly gates and they shall have
opened to us, we shall enter the beau
tiful city and walk up the golden
paved streets and receive a golden
harp Of thousand strings; then. oh,
then, what JOY will be- Just then,
away down in the rear Of the church,,
little peaked-nosed runt with bow
legs, jumped up and shouted I rise
for the purpose Of making a notion
Well, the parson looked startled and
quit speaking. My motion is said
the peak-nosed fellow, that wherever
in that there discourse the word
'gold" appears, it be stricken out, and
the word ''silver'' be substituted
We'll, sir, about forty of that congre-
cation got up to second the motion.
Now. that just shows what the silver
sentiment rs in that state"
"Well, what did the preacher say?"
asked the listeners.
"Well, gentlemen, he looked at that
little peaked-nose, bow-legged runt for
a minute, gettin' madder and madder-
all the while, and he looked as if he
was going to have a stroke Of apo
plexy. He slammed the book shut and
he banged his fist down on the cover
aud said, I'll see you burned first! -
New York Sun.