40fi BANFFSHIRE FAUNA. APPENDIX. 



CYPSELUS APTJS [Swift]., 



Of all our migratory species this is generally the last to arrive, and 

 the first to depart. Next to the skylark, the swift appears to 

 ascend highest in his aerial flights ; and a very beautiful sight it 

 is to see it, on a clear, still evening, gambolling about so far 

 above the earth, and, it may be, screaming its farewell requiem 

 to the departing sun. The swift is the first to depart, towards 

 the end of August or beginning of September, and it returns 

 about the middle of May ; the sand martin next, or about the 

 second or third week in September, and it usually returns about 

 the third week in April ; and the swallow and house martin 

 commonly about the first week or middle of October, and it reap- 

 pears about the 1st of May. Before I part with this interesting 

 tribe I must become a little arithmetical. We are frequently 

 told, and justly, of the great benefit swallows and other insect- 

 feeders do, by the countless herds of noxious creatures which 

 they destroy. I will relate an instance of my own experi- 

 ence in this respect. Picking up a swallow which had been 

 shot by a friend, I found that its mouth was crammed with 

 gnats and flies. Some of them were alive. They all seemed 

 attached to the mouth by a glutinous fluid. The bird had 

 apparently been catering for its young. Being desirous of 

 making a further examination, I wrapped it in paper and put 

 it in my pocket. On reaching home I opened the paper, 

 when a number of the gnats buzzed out into my face, much to 

 my regret ; but I succeeded in counting upwards of 70, and I 

 am quite sure there were more than 100 in all. Now it is a 

 w.ell-known fact that both birds assist in rearing their young. 

 Well, say that they visit the nest every ten minutes (which is 

 iinder the mark), and that every time of doing so, each bird 

 conveys 70 insects ; this in an hour amounts to 840; in a day 

 of twelve hours, which is but a short day for a swallow at that 

 season of the year, to 10,080 ; in a week of seven days, to 

 70,560 ; and in a fortnight,; to 141,120. But if we carry the 

 calculation a little further, by supposing that the birds rear two 

 broods in a season, although the number is often three, we 

 have, at the ratio at which we have been counting, a total of 

 282,240 insects destroyed in one year by two birds alone, while 

 rearing their two broods ! 



CAPEJMULGUS EUROP^EUS [Nightjar].. 



Of late years this species would appear to have become more 

 numerous, but it is still very far from plentiful. 



COLUMBA PALUMBUS [Ring Dove]. 



Or, as we have it, Cushie Doo. This bids fair to become one of 

 the greatest pests of the farmers. The wild pigeons have in- 

 creased amazingly within the last few years, and the damage 

 they do is incalculable. This increase is caused by the almost 

 total destruction of the hawk tribe, which tended greatly to thin 

 their numbers. 



