Country Life
TUE BOLDNESS OF FEAR.
The tale—and photographs—of the swallows in Austria, overcome by stress of weather and hunger, has brought out more saliently than any incident in the history of birds their capacity to throw over or pass beyond a sense of fear. They will gladly accept the lesser danger to avoid the greater ; and we find this in a great variety of wild animals. A strange tale was told me some months ago by a correspondent who lives by Hayling Island. After a day's sailing and fishing in his small yacht he was returning to his moorings. The sun was low and there was little wind ; and as he glided home he saw a sparrow-hawk in pursuit of a lark ; and as the two came close to his boat he felt certain that the lark was doomed : the hawk was upon it.
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