192 SWIFTS. 



they are sailing round, at a great height from the ground, 

 he would see, every now and then, one drop on the back of 

 another, and both of them sink down together for many 

 fathoms with a loud piercing shriek. This I take to be the 

 juncture when the business of generation is carrying on. 



As the swift eats, drinks, collects materials for its nest, 

 and, as it seems, propagates on the wing, it appears 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, squeaking as they go in a very clamorous manner : 

 these, by nice observers, are supposed to be males serenading 

 their sitting hens, and not without reason, since they seldom 

 squeak till they come close to the walls or eaves, 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 

 district than the other species ; a proof that gnats and other 

 insects do also abound to a considerable height in the air : 

 they also range to vast distances ; since locomotion is no 

 labour to them, who are endowed with such wonderful 

 powers of wing. Their powers seem to be in proportion to 



