THE SWIFT* 



preparation for its brood ; that operation over, they 

 again depart, remaining with us about fourteen or 

 fifteen weeks : and all this period seems passed in 

 hurry and precipitation, in unceasing action on the 

 wing, from early morning, till hidden by the shades 

 of night, not calmly sailing on his way, but rushing 

 and struggling through the air with unremitting 

 haste ; and such is their muscular power, violent 

 as these exertions are, they present no diminution 

 of celerity or lassitude of body they seem the des- 

 tined couriers of the sky, coursing for life. But 

 these laborious progressions of the swift do not 

 proceed from the mere pleasure resulting from a life 

 of action ; they are rendered necessary by the vagrant 

 habits of his prey, as we generally observe him 

 occupied in pursuit or capturing his victim : at one 

 moment, perhaps, circling round us like the head of 

 a barbed arrow, snatching up some hatch of crea- 

 tures just risen from the soil ; that effected, away 

 he goes like the passing breeze, now skimming with 

 noiseless wing the surface of the pool, then ranging 

 high in the azure of the air. 



But the rivers and waters near large towns, 

 where there is a constant decomposition of animal 

 matters, giving life to a profusion of insects, are the 

 great haunts of this black marten, and in some sea- 

 sons their numbers are incredible. I have known 

 the river about Chelsea, or Fulham, swarm with 

 such myriads as to distress the eye that watched 

 them, by the rapidity and intricacy of their mo- 

 tions ; nor is the harmless manner in which these 



