354 THE SWIFT 



rare, and the needletailed-swift a very rare occasional visitor. The 

 third, our well-known summer visitor, Apus apus, is a familiar sight, 

 and is easily distinguished at a distance from the Hirundinidce, both by 

 its larger size and the long narrow scythe or scimitar-shaped wings, 

 which, when full spread, form a black crescent cut through the 

 middle by the bird's body. Even more than they is it a denizen of 

 the air. Its feet are ill adapted for walking or perching. It can, 

 indeed, hardly be said to do either, except in so far as is necessary for 

 getting in or out of its nest. On the other hand, its strong curved 

 claws enable it to cling easily to walls or other convenient situations, 

 and this is its substitute for perching. On the ground it is rarely 

 seen, and then only occasionally when engaged in conflict with some 

 other bird, or when too exhausted by hunger or sickness to fly. When 

 on the ground, it has, owing to its long wings and short tarsus, to 

 make an effort to raise itself into the air, but that it can do so, even 

 from a flat surface such as a floor, table, or deck, is now well 

 established. Birds that fail to rise are no doubt either injured, too 

 frightened, or too tired. 1 



Once in the air the swift is supreme. There are few things that 

 give one so much the sensation of triumphant exhilarating speed as 

 the sight of a serried band of these birds rushing with wild screams in 

 frenzied flight about the sky. There is, perhaps, no other bird that 

 can overtake them, unless it be the long-winged hobby, but whether 

 even the hobby can catch a full-grown swift in perfect health is a 

 matter of doubt. 2 



More dangerous to the swift than hawks are the parasitical 

 insects by which its plumage is infested. It may be attacked by at 

 least six different kinds, 3 and small though they be, yet able at times 

 to bring low, even to the ground, this Nimrod of the air, thus aveng- 



1 For the evidence see in particular Lilford, Birds of Northants, i. p. 247 ; Ussher and 

 Warren, Birds of Ireland, p. 103 ; Nature Notes, 1891, 67-9 (Aubrey Edwards) ; Field, 1890, 

 vol. Ixxvi. pp. 810, 850. 



1 Cf. Naumann, Vogel Mitteleuropas, iv. 237. 



3 Hipposbosca hirundinis, Eureum dmicoides, Anapera pallida, Menopon parrulum, Meno- 

 pon pulicare, and Menopon tibiale. Naumann, Vogel Mitteleuropas, iv. 238. 



