SWIFTS 103 



a flat surface, is unable to rise and will remain there 

 until it dies. Quite recently some Indian swifts were 

 brought to me and I placed one of them on my desk. 

 In less than twenty seconds the bird was flying about 

 in the room. Then, again, the grasping powers of its 

 hook-like claws have been somewhat magnified. The 

 bird in question made several unsuccessful attempts to 

 cling on to the whitewashed wall, and eventually fell 

 to the floor, where it was seized and then liberated in 

 the open. It flew off none the worse for its adventure. 

 Nevertheless, its claws are very sharp ; the bird in 

 question stuck them quite unpleasantly into me when I 

 held it. A swift can certainly cling to any vertical 

 surface that is the least rough. 



Unlike most birds, swifts use their nests as houses 

 and sleep in them at night. One frequently hears 

 issuing from the rafters in the dead of night the 

 piercing scream so characteristic of swifts. This 

 disposes of the silly story, so prevalent, that at evening 

 time the swifts mount into the higher layers of the 

 atmosphere and there sleep on the wing. 



In conclusion, I must mention the characteristic 

 flight of swifts just before sundown. The birds close 

 the day in what has been called "a jubilant rout" ; as 

 if they had not already taken sufficient exercise, they fly 

 at a breakneck pace round about the building in which 

 their nests are placed, dodging in and out of the pillars 

 of the verandah, and fill the air with their shivering 

 screams. This seems to be a characteristic of swifts 

 wherever they are found. 



