346 Arrival of British Summer Birds, 



is common in Dulwich woods, and in several other places 

 near the metropolis, it is here of rather rare occurrence ; and 

 I have not, therefore, perhaps, been able to note down the 

 exact time of its arrival. 



I had now for some days been rather anxious to procure 

 an alpine swift, for as many as three or four were one day 

 seen sailing in company with the common species. I went 

 several times to the place, and once I certainly saw them, 

 but they were sailing high in the air, far out of the reach of 

 gunshot. It was a calm still evening, and the spectacle af- 

 forded by the swallow tribes was truly beautiful, and would 

 interest any lover of natural history, i^irundo rupestris ex- 

 cepted, all the European if irundinidae (or Cypselidae, should 

 they not rather be called ?) were sailing around. With 

 pinions wide-extended, the two swifts (Cypselus murarius 

 and alpinus) glided rapidly along in bold and sweeping curves, 

 now buoyantly floating on the breeze, now darting with the 

 speed of thought in pursuit of each other ; those of the com- 

 mon species screaming in their course. The swallows {H. rus- 

 tica) skimmed the surface of the water, at times excursively 

 ranging over the adjoining meadows, and uttering, as they 

 passed, their well-known " peet-weet," so exactly imitated 

 by the little sedge bird. The house martins {H. urbica) sailed 

 gracefully in easy curves, with wings extended, twittering 

 forth in the air their brisk and cheerful song ; and showing in 

 beautiful contrast, as they neared the ground, their purest 

 snow-white plumage above the tail. Lastly, though far more 

 numerous than all the rest together, the little sand martins, 

 {H. riparia), with flight more vacillating than the others, li- 

 terally peopled the air with their numbers, and, in colour 

 widely differing from the rest, displayed their brown vestures 

 to advantage, as they passed before a clump of trees, then 

 everywhere budding forth into leaf. 



It was impossible not to gaze with admiration on this ani- 

 mated scene. Their numbers seemed to lessen ; and presently 

 hardly one could be discerned, where a minute before they so 

 abounded: but soon, in the distance, a few moving specks 

 were visible, and in another minute the air was peopled as 

 before. Again they disappeared, and the scene again was every- 

 where enlivened by their presence ; but not in such numbers 

 as at first. The sun was fast sinking below the horizon, and 

 in every direction the refulgent sky glowed with his setting 

 beams. The swifts had disappeared: a few swallows and 

 house martins were still sailing around, their numbers fast 

 decreasing : the bank martins gradually, almost imperceptibly, 

 mounted higher and higher into the air, rising somewhat at 



