256 T'he Natural History of Selborne 



They never can settle on the ground but through accident ; 

 and when down, can hardly rise, on account of the shortness 

 of their legs and the length of their wings ; neither can they 

 walk, but only crawl ; but they have a strong grasp with their 

 feet, by which they cling to walls. Their bodies being flat 

 they can enter a very narrow crevice ; and where they cannot 

 pass on their bellies they will turn up edgewise. 



The particular formation of the foot discriminates the 

 swift from all the British hirundines, and indeed from all 

 other known birds, the hirundo tne/ba, or great white-bellied 

 swift of Gibraltar, excepted ; for it is so disposed as to carry 

 " omnes quatuor digitos anticos " all its four toes forward ; 

 besides, the least toe, which should be the back toe, consists 

 of one bone alone, and the other three only of two apiece 

 a construction most rare and peculiar, but nicely adapted to 

 the purposes in which their feet are employed. This, and 

 some peculiarities attending the nostrils and under mandible, 

 have induced a discerning * naturalist to suppose that this 

 species might constitute a genus per se. 



In London a party of swifts frequents 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 coleoptera, 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 

 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 



* John Antony Scopoli, of Carniola, M.D. 



