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three days. On the 16th July of the present year a little girl

brought a young Swift to my wife : it had evidently left the nest

before it was fully able to fly (the feathers of the under parts not

having grown sufficiently to cover the centre of the breast and

abdomen), and in the ordinary course of events would inevitably

have become the prey of some marauding cat.


On my return home in the evening my wife showed me

the bird, and remembering how successful I had been some years

since in rearing a Pied Wagtail upon a mixture of crushed sweet

biscuit and Abrahams’ Insectivorous Food, I proposed that the

Swift should be fed upon the same mixture.


Having left the nest, the bird naturally refused to open

its mouth ; so that, for a fortnight my wife (who undertook to be

chief nurse) was obliged to open its mouth for it for every morsel.

I fortunately had an opportunity of securing some fresh wasp-

grubs which varied the food for a few days and formed the first

inducement to the bird to feed itself: the idea of finding the

food when it was hungry, nevertheless did not seem to occur to

the Swift, however hungry it might be, so—about every two

hours, the food and water had to be offered before it would

attempt to eat or drink.


Between meals, and at night, the Swift was kept in a

wicker basket with flannel to keep it warm ; but it strongly

objected to being shut up, and whenever the lid was opened it

would scramble up the side and fly either to the person who

happened to be nearest or to the floor. If on the floor it would

run at a great rate to anybody who called it. Like the House

Martins which I reared in 1891, the Swift took great pleasure in

nestling down in one’s hand, where it would remain quietly

making the queer sizzling sort of purring sound which this bird

always utters when feeding, and which at times, when the bird is

excited in flight, develops into quite a shrill scream. Another

favourite position was—clinging to my wife’s or servant’s dress

near the shoulder, or hanging between the folds of the table-cloth.


Although we caught a good many flies for our Swift, and

it seemed to eat the soft mixture with pleasure and digested it

without difficulty, I am afraid it did not get sufficient exercise to

keep it in vigorous health. After a meal we could make it active

by placing it in the basket and leaving the lid open ; then as it

scrambled up the side and flew off it was repeatedly put back

until it had, as we supposed, had enough exercise for the time ;

but it seems to me that a bird which naturally spends a greater

part of the day on the wing, taking its food incessantly in small



