250 The Natural History of Selborne 



or carrying in materials ; so that I have suspected (since their 

 nests are exactly the same) that they sometimes usurp upon 

 the house-sparrows, and expel them, as sparrows do the house 

 and sand-martin ; well remembering that I have seen them 

 squabbling together at the entrance of their holes, and the 

 sparrows up in arms, and much disconcerted at these in- 

 truders. And yet I am assured, by a nice observer in such 

 matters, that they do collect feathers for their nests in Anda- 

 lusia, and that he has shot them with such materials in their 

 mouths. 1 



Swifts, like sand-martins, carry on the business of nidifica- 

 tion quite in the dark, in crannies of castles, and towers, and 

 steeples, and upon the tops of the walls of churches under the 

 roof; and therefore cannot be so narrowly watched as those 

 species that build more openly ; but, from what I could ever 

 observe, they begin nesting about the middle of May ; and I 

 have remarked, from eggs taken, that they have sat hard by 

 the ninth of June. In general they haunt tall buildings, 

 churches, and steeples, and breed only in such ; yet in this 

 village some pairs frequent the lowest and meanest cottages, 

 and educate their young under those thatched roofs. We 

 remember but one instance where they breed out of buildings, 

 and that is in the sides of a deep chalk-pit near the town 

 of Odiham, in this county, where we have seen many pairs 

 entering the crevices, and skimming and squeaking round 

 the precipices. 



As I have regarded these amusive birds with no small 

 attention, if I should advance something new and peculiar 

 with respect to them, and different from all other birds, I 

 might perhaps be credited, especially as my assertion is the 

 result of many years' exact observation. The fact that I 

 would advance is, that swifts tread, or copulate, on the wing ; 

 and I would wish any nice observer, that is startled at this 

 supposition, to use his own eyes, and I think he will soon be 



1 It is now known that the swift collects materials for its nest on the 

 wing in the same way as other birds of similar habits. ED. 



