344 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



and a sudden gloom creeps as it were over the earth 

 and sky. An almost painful stillness is broken only by 

 the chirping of the sparrows under the tiles, already 

 conscious of a coming storm. Dark angry clouds are drift- 

 ing across the heavens, and one broad mass, perceptibly 

 increasing and assuming each moment a deeper shade, be- 

 speaks the lowering tempest. Now, as we stand watching 

 that strange yellow light, which spreads itself for awhile 

 over surrounding objects ; as one by one the heavy drops 

 foretell the drenching shower; strange dark forms are 

 seen sweeping through the air in the very " eye of the 

 storm," and the sooty plumage of the swifts contrasts 

 even with the blackest portions of the surrounding 

 atmosphere. No wonder, then, that their appearance 

 at such times, issuing from their fastnesses as the very 

 " demons of the storm," coupled with their " uncanny" 

 looks and thrilling cries, should have won for them in a 

 superstitious age the local name of Devilins.* I have 

 pictured these birds by the sea-side, not that they are 

 more common in the vicinity of the coast than in any of 

 our inland towns or villages, but so essentially is this 

 a summer bird, that it recalls involuntarily the thought 

 of leisure and of healthy idle hours. There is, too, one 

 other association connected with the swift, which need 

 not take us further from our homes, in town or country, 

 than the parish church. Who is there, with an ear for 

 nature's sounds, that cannot recall some quiet Sunday 

 evening when, through the open doors and windows, 

 scarce a breath of air is felt within the sacred building 

 when human frailty, too much for even the best intentions, 

 is yielding by degrees to an irresistible drowsiness, and 

 the worthy minister is soothing rather than rousing those 



* " Devilin. s., the species of swallow commonly called the 

 swift ; hirundo apus, Lin. Named from its imp-like ugliness 

 and screaming. JEN. (Jennings Glossary) Sheer-devil." Forby's 

 Vocabulary of East Auglia. 



