THE NIGHT-SOARING OF THE SWIFTS. 51 



this most wonderful exhibition of wingmanship of this merry 

 and wonderful bird. 



I can take it for granted that you all know that the swift 

 has nothing to do with the swallow, but is a relation of the 

 nightjar and the hummingbird. That it is a dark olive 

 brown bird (with a white chin), weighing 1 Joz. and measuring 

 7Jin. in length, with the comparatively enormous stretch of 

 wing of 15 J inches. That its four claws all point forward 

 and are very sharp, that the sole of the foot extends to the 

 joint above, and you might call the bird plantigrade. That 

 the foot is designed for clinging on to rocks and walls. That 

 the bird cannot sit on a bough ; it can only lie along a ledge. 

 That the shape of the body is like a slightly flattened fish, 

 with perfect streamlines and nothing projecting to catch 

 the wind. That the bird does not seem to bend the last 

 joint of its wings in flight, but always keeps them widely 

 stretched, never folded back like those of the swallow. That 

 its dark brown eye is deeply set with an embrasure cut out 

 so that the bird can see straight ahead. That it arrives in 

 pairs in the first week in May and leaves about the llth of 

 August the last to come and the first to go. That it pairs 

 for life, and comes back to the same nest year after year. 

 That its one note is a shrill scream, which, when uttered in 

 chorus as the birds are flying round in rings, is the most 

 joyous of all the birdsongs in this land. You will know that, 

 in spite of what all the bird books say, the swift, if unwounded 

 and in good health, can rise from the level ground if it has 

 headroom and is not soaked in long, wet grass. That it 

 never settles on the ground or at any other place than its 

 own nest, except when it is exploring for a nesting-place. 

 That it does everything in the air except make its nest, lay 

 its eggs, incubate, and feed its young. That it eats, drinks, 

 mates, and gathers materials for its nest on the wing. 



That it roosts on the wing, I am not taking for granted 

 that you know. 



But if you have lived a few yards from a Church where 

 many pairs of swifts nested, and have studied them for the 



