108 BIRDS OF CHESHIRE. 
ORDER PICARIA. 
FAMILY CYPSELID. 
SWIFT. 
CYPSELUS APUS (Linnzus). 
Squealer, Longwing, Devil Screamer. 
Dr. Dobie says that this well-known summer visitor 
arrives in the Chester district during the first week in 
May. In the north of the county it is a few days 
later, the 9th being the average date of its arrival at 
Bowdon for the last fifteen years, whilst in the Hill 
Country of the East the bird seldom makes its appear- 
ance before the middle of the month. As a rule all 
the birds have gone south again by the end of August; 
but in 1896 a few were observed in Cheshire, as in 
other parts of England, throughout September and as 
late as the first week of October; and on November 8rd, 
1885, Coward found a young bird at Bowdon which 
had only been dead a few days. 
In the neighbourhood of Bowdon and Sale the Swift 
has greatly increased in numbers within recent years, 
and a similar increase is reported from other localities 
where it was formerly by no means common. In spite 
of this fact the bird is not universally distributed, and 
is still rare or absent in many places without any 
apparent reason. For example, during the summers 
of 1895 and 1896, Oldham only observed a single pair 
in Romiley, although the bird was not uncommon two 
' Dobie, op. cit. p. 307. 
