COUNTRY LIFE
IT was one of those autumn evenings when the light made the scene look unreal. It was an orange light, touching the underside of a great black bank of cloud and the tops of poplars that swayed over in the wind. A storm was at hand. The light made the bricks of village chimneys seem even more red, and the jackdaws sat in pairs upon them like ornaments. High above, the rooks were circling, and gradually their behaviour brought the jackdaws up too. They all gathered together, spread out and then indulged -in those wonderful aerobatics that are said to come before a storm. When the great flight grew tired of speeding in circles, it broke up into groups of four and five. - These flew in all directions and at varying heights. Now and again the leader of a flight dived and planed, and his followers went swoop- ing after him at amazing speed. The cawing was excited, and the birds seemed tireless. The display went on for ten minutes. Sometimes the lower groups battled up from thirty or forty feet to two hundred. The sight of them reminded me of fish in a tank. Such freedom as these creatures can only enjoy in air or water, and there is something that delights -the heart as one watches. The-threatened storm passed, and the strange light faded. Before dusk the rooks were back in 'their elmS, and the jackdaws had vanished either down the chimneys or into near-by trees.
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