386 THE LIFE OF A BIRD. 



I have bestowed any attention on that species of 

 Hirundines. Our swifts in general withdrew this 

 year, 1781, about the first day of August, all save 

 one pair, which in two or three days were reduced 

 to a single bird. The perseverance of this indi- 

 vidual made me suspect that the strongest of 

 motives, that of an attachment to her young, could 

 alone occasion so late a stay. I watched therefore 

 till the twenty-fourth of August, and then dis- 

 covered that under the eaves of the church she 

 attended upon two young which were fledged and 

 now put out their white chins from a crevice. 

 These remained till the twenty-seventh, looking 

 more alert every day, and seeming to long to be 

 on the wing. After this day they were missing 

 at once, nor could I ever observe them with their 

 dam, coursing round the church in the act of 

 learning to fly, as the first broods evidently 

 do. On the thirty-first I caused the eaves to be 

 searched, but we found only two callow dead 

 swifts, on which a second nest had been formed-" 

 " Now, although the maternal affection of the 

 female bird," says Mr. Blackwall, " in this instance 

 before us was sufficiently powerful to induce her 

 to remain with her young till they were capable of 



