1 72 Mr. W. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland* 



highly electrical state of the atmosphere at such times." With Mr. 

 Selby I agree in considering the remark of White respecting the 

 scream of the swift to be merely " fanciful and pretty," as I have 

 heard these birds scream in the manner described so soon after their 

 arrival as to afford sufficient proof that the cry did not proceed from 

 the " males serenading their sitting hens," as at the time incubation 

 had not commenced*. But I cannot coincide in opinion with Mr. 

 Selby that " this action and cry are the consequences of irritability 

 excited by the highly electrical state of the atmosphere at such times." 

 This idea differing from my own previous to the perusal of the ad- 

 mirable work in which it appeared, I, for two summers, gave some 

 attention to the subject, to see how far my preconceived opinion was 

 justified. In the years 1832 and 1833, from the 7th and 9th of May, 

 the days on which the swifts first came under my observation about 

 Belfast, until the 1st and 3rd of June (when I left home), they daily, 

 in dull and gloomy as well as bright and cloudless weather, kept 

 flying about in small parties, screaming loudly. 



The following particular notices on this subject are abbreviated 

 from my Journal : — 



May 24th, 1832. — For the last eight or ten days the swift's scream 

 has been daily heard ; and when present this evening at the closing 

 sessional meeting of the Historic Debating Society, the swifts ob- 

 truded themselves on my attention by flying, " in small parties," 

 closely past the windows, screaming most furiously. Though amu- 

 sing to the ornithologist, it must have been very annoying to the as- 

 sembled company to be " serenaded" by their ill-timed scream, which 

 not only jarred most discordantly with the " eloquent music" dis- 

 coursed within, but for the time being entirely drowned the voices of 

 the speakers, and indeed almost seemed to be intended as a mockery 

 of what was passing there. During these ten days the weather has 

 been rather dark and cloudy ; the barometer remarkably stationary, 

 and very high. With the exception of a few showers on one day, 

 no rain has fallen. 



May 27th and June 3rd, 1832. — Weather remarkably fine and 

 warm ; sky almost cloudless. The screaming of swifts heard above 

 every other sound, about the localities frequented by them. 



May 22nd, 1833. — After eight this evening, which was very warm 

 and the sky cloudless, swifts were flying about in little parties of 

 three and four, and noisy as usual : two of these parties would occa- 

 sionally join, and continue together for a short time screaming vo- 

 ciferously. These evolutions have always seemed to me manifesta- 

 tions of pure enjoyment, and I have considered the swift's peculiar 

 cry generally indicative of pleasure. When these parties were about 

 to meet, and when just separating, their power of screaming was ex- 



* I have often remarked what doubtless led White to conjecture that the 

 cry of the swift is the serenade of the males to " their sitting hens," as, at 

 the season of incubation, these birds (but of which sex I cannot say) may 

 often be observed flying about in the neighbourhood of their nests, and 

 screaming only " when they come close to the walls or eaves." 



