182 IN NATURE'S WAYS 



steeples and churches, squeaking as they go in a very clamorous man- 

 ner : these, by nice observers, are supposed to be males serenading 

 their sitting hens, and not without reason, since they seldom squeak 

 till they come close to the walls or eaves, and since those within 

 utter at the same time a little inward note of complacency. 



When the hen has sat hard all day, she rushes forth just as it is 

 almost dark, and stretches and relieves her weary limbs, and 

 snatches a scanty meal for a few minutes, and then returns to her 

 duty of incubation. 



They bring out their young about the middle or latter end of 

 July ; but as these never become perchers, nor, that ever I could 

 discern, are fed on the wing by their dams, the coming forth of the 

 young is not so notorious as in the other species. 



Sometimes they pursue and strike at hawks that come in their 

 way, but not with that vehemence and fury that swallows express 

 on the same occasion. 



But in nothing are swifts more singular than in their early 

 retreat. They retire, as to the main body of them, by the loth of 

 August, and sometimes a few days sooner ; and every straggler 

 invariably withdraws by the 20th. This early retreat is mysterious 

 and wonderful, since that time is often the sweetest season in the 

 year. 



Swifts are no songsters, and have only one harsh screaming 

 note; yet there are ears to which it is not displeasing, from an 

 agreeable association of ideas, since that note never occurs but in 

 the most lovely summer weather. 



They never 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. -G. W. 



