SWIFT 179 



The black swift, or * develing,' or ' screeclier,' as he is sometimes 

 named, with his exceedingly long, stiff, scythe-shaped wings, still 

 * urging his wild career ' through the air, is a figure famiHar to 

 everyone. And his voice, too, is a famihar sound to every ear. It 

 is usually described as a harsh scream. Wild and shrill and piercing 

 it certainly is, but it varies greatly with the bird's emotions, and is 

 at times a beautiful silvery sound, which many would hear with 

 delight if uttered by the song-thrush or nightingale. 



The swift breeds in holes in church-towers and in houses, its 

 favourite site being under the eaves of a thatched cottage ; it also 

 nests in crevices in the sides of chalk-pits and sea-chfifs, and some- 

 times in hollow trees. A slight nest of straw and feathers, made to 

 adhere together with the bird's saliva, is built, and two eggs are 

 laid ; they are oval in form, white in colour, and have rough shells. 

 One brood only is reared in the season, and the birds depart at the 

 end of August, but stragglers may be met with as late as October. 



The white-bellied swift {Cypselus melba) is known in England 

 as a rare straggler from Central and Southern Europe. A still rarei 

 straggler from Eastern Siberia, where it breeds, is the needle-tailed 

 swift {Acanthyllis caudacuta) ; of this species not more than two or 

 three specimens have been obtained in this country. 



Nightjar. 

 Caprimulgus europseus. 



Ash-grey spotted and barred with black, brown, and chestnut ; 

 first three primaries with a large white patch on the inner web, 

 the two outer tail-feathers on each side tipped with white. Length, 

 ten and a quarter inches. 



The nightjar, or goatsucker, is the representative of a type widely 

 distributed on the earth ; we have only one species, just as we have 

 but one swift, one kingfisher, one wryneck, and one cuckoo. And, 

 having but one, and this being so singular a bird, urdike all other 

 species known to us, in structure, colouring, language, and habits, he 

 excites a great deal of interest, and is very well known, although a 

 night-bird, nowhere abundant, and a sojourner with us for only 

 about four months and a half out of the twelve. He arrives in this 

 country about the middle of May, and inhabits commons, moors, 



