204 SWIFTS. 



As the swift eats, drinks, collects materials for its 

 nest, and, as it seems, propagates on the wing, it ap- 

 pears to live more in the air than any other bird, and 

 to perform all functions there save those of sleeping 

 and incubation. 



This hirundo differs widely from its congeners in 

 laying invariably but two eggs at a time, which are 

 milk-white, long, and peaked at the small end ; 

 whereas the other species lay at each brood from four 

 to six. It is a most alert bird, rising very early, and 

 retiring to roost very late, and is on the wing in the 

 height of summer at least sixteen hours. In the 

 longest days it does not withdraw to rest till a quarter 

 before nine in the evening, being the latest of all day 

 birds. Just before they retire, whole groups of them 

 assemble high in the air, and squeak and shoot about 

 with wonderful rapidity. But this bird is never so 

 much alive as in sultry thundery weather, when it 

 expresses great alacrity, and calls forth all its powers. 

 In hot mornings, several, getting together into little 

 parties, dash round the steeples and churches, squeak- 

 ing as they go, in a very clamorous manner : these, 

 by nice observers, are supposed to be males serenad- 

 ing their sitting hens ; and not without reason, since 

 they seldom squeak till they come close to the walls 

 or ea^ves, and since those within utter at the same 

 time a little inward note of complacency. 



When the hen has sat hard all day, she rushes forth 

 just as it is almost dark, and stretches and relieves 

 her weary limbs, and snatches a scanty meal for a few 

 minutes, and then returns to her duty of incubation. 

 Swifts, when wantonly and cruelly shot while they 

 have young, discover a little lump of insects in their 

 mouths, which they pouch and hold under their 

 tongue. In general, they feed in a much higher dis- 

 trict than the other species ; a proof that gnats and 

 other insects do also abound to a considerable height 



