274 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



soaring with continuous screams, until they are mere crescentic 

 specks in the sky. There they float, their voices faintly audible 

 even when they are invisible. Whether they sleep on the wing 

 or return to some roost after dark is still unknown. The short 

 legs, feathered to the toes, are useless for walking, but the bird 

 has no difficulty in rising from a level surface. I have more 

 than once placed a captured Swift on the ground; the bird 

 raised the wings high above its back and with one sharp down- 

 ward stroke lifted itself and flew off"; it did not flutter along the 

 ground. 



The food of the Swift consists of small flying insects, mostly 

 diptera and stayphylinid beetles ; I have taken fair-sized crane- 

 flies from the stomach of one which had met with an accident ; 

 its mouth was full of small two- winged flies. Both Prof. Newstead 

 and Mr. G. A. Dunlop have watched Swifts coursing to and fro 

 through the columns of plumed gnats, Chironomus , when these 

 were engaged in their nuptial flight. One Swift, which had 

 accidently entangled itself in a window, when held in my hand, 

 closed its eyes and gaped as if expiring, but it soon recovered 

 and flew strongly. It did not appear to me to be " shamming," 

 but seemed as if in a temporary faint through fright. Dipterous 

 and other parasites give the Swift much trouble, and during 

 flight it will peform an evolution similar to the " tumbling " of a 

 Pigeon, but without loss of elevation, when, doubtless, it is 

 striving to get rid of the pests, scratching itself in the air. 



The incoming Swifts lose no time in getting to the nesting 

 holes, and eggs are generally laid before the end of May. The 

 nest is under cover, frequently on rafters in a dwelling house, 

 but on the coast in some crevice in the clifis ; it has been found 

 in a hollow tree. The bird is common on the Pennine grouse- 

 moors, where I am told it will nest in the turf " butts " used for 

 Grouse driving. The nesting material consists of straw or other 

 litter, mixed with a few feathers, glued together with viscous 

 salivary secretion which speedily hardens. Two or occasionally 



