LXI!.] 



OF SELBORNE. 



183 



naturalist to suppose that this species might constitute a genus 

 by itself. 



In London a party of swifts frequent the Tower, playing 

 and feeding over the river just below the bridge : others 

 haunt some of the churches of the Borough next the fields ; but 

 do not venture, like the house-martin, into the close, crowded 

 part of the town. 



The Swedes have bestowed a very pertinent name on this 

 swallow, calling it " ring swala," from the perpetual rings or 

 circles that it takes round the scene of its nidification. 



Swifts feed on coleoptcra, or small beetles with hard cases over 

 their wings, as well as on the softer insects ; but it does not 

 appear how they can procure gravel to grind their food, as 

 swallows do, since they never settle on the ground. Young 



SWIFT'S EGG. 



ones, overrun with hippoboscce, are sometimes found, under 

 their nests, fallen to the ground ; the number of vermin 

 rendering their abode insupportable any longer. They fre- 

 quent in this village several abject cottages ; yet a succession 

 still haunts the same unlikely roofs : a good proof this that 

 the same birds return to the same spots. As they must stoop 

 very low to get up under these humble eaves, cats lie in wait, 

 and sometimes catch them on the wing. 



On the 5th of July, 1775, 1 again untiled part of a roof over 

 the nest of a swift. The darn sat in the nest ; but so strongly 

 was she affected by her natural crTopyij for her brood, which she 

 supposed to be in danger, that, regardless of her own safety, she 

 would not stir, but lay sullenly by them, permitting herself to 

 be taken in hand. The squab young we brought down and 

 placed on the grass-plot, where they tumbled about, and were 

 as helpless as a new-born child. While we contemplated their 



