no HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



Scotland and the west of Ireland — arriving usually 

 in the first week of May and departing in August, 

 sometimes in the first week of September. In 

 1896, one was seen at Worthing, Sept. 25 ; others 

 at Caistor, Lincolnshire, so late as Sept. 26 and 

 Oct. 25 (Field, Oct. 31, 1896). The Swift does not 

 travel quite so far north as either the Chimney Swal- 

 low or the Martin ; but Wolley saw it on the Faroe 

 Islands, and observed it in summer hawking over 

 the fells at Muonioniska, Lapland. 



Swifts go a long way south for the winter, 

 travelling in large flocks (see Nature, Aug. 30, 1900). 

 Livingstone in his "Researches in South Africa," p. 

 124, says, " very large flocks of Swifts were observed 

 flying over the plains north of Kuruman (Bechuana- 

 land) : I counted a stream of them which must 

 have numbered upwards of 4000." Andersson also 

 (" Okavango River," p. 137) saw immense flocks in 

 Damaraland towards the end of November. From 

 that time until the month of May they are ex- 

 tremely abundant about Cape Town (E. L, Layard, 

 " Birds of South Africa," p. 50). Like Swallows, 

 they annually revisit their old haunts, as has been 

 proved by marking several birds and restoring them 

 to liberty (Jenner, Phil. Trans., 1824, p. 16.) 



See my article on Swallows and Swifts, Field, 

 April 14, 1883. 



They have been occasionally observed to take 

 possession of Martins' nests (Zool., 1887, pp. 348, 

 391, 428), but, as a rule, creep up under the eaves 

 of cottages and churches, where they make a loosely 



