192 BRITISH BIRDS. 



great inconvenience. In the breeding season, when the 

 young are hatched, and the parent birds are in the 

 habit of making excursions into the countrj'^ to a con- 

 siderable distance, for the purpose of collecting flies, 

 to be brought home as food, a gentleman shot a swift. 

 He says, " On picking up my hapless and ill-gotten 

 prey, I observed a number of flies, some mutilated, 

 others scarcely injured, crawling out of the bird's mouth; 

 the throat and pouch seemed absolutely stufi'ed with 

 them, and an incredible number was at length disgorged. 

 I am sure I speak within compass when I state, that 

 there was a mass of flies, just caught by this single 

 swift, larger than, when pressed close, could conveni- 

 ently be contained in the bowl of an ordinary table- 

 spoon." 



" Lo, the lilies of the field, 

 How their leaves instruction yield ! 

 Hark to Nature's lesson given 

 By the blessed birds of heaven ! 

 Every bush and tufted tree 

 Warbles sweet philosophy : — 

 ' Mortal, flee from doubt and sorrow : 

 God provideth for the morrow! 



*' ' Say, with richer crimson glows 

 The kingly mantle than the rose ? 

 Say, have kings more wholesome fare 

 Than we, poor citizens of air I 



