THE SWIFT :u;i 



The young remain in the nest over six weeks, 1 leaving it in the 

 early |>art of August They are usually fed for a few days in the 

 air, and then begin their migration south. Gilbert White observed 

 a swift still engaged in feeding its young in the nest on the 24th of 

 August They disappeared on the 27th. The cause of the delay was 

 found on examining the nest. It was built upon a first nest, and in 

 the latter were the rtfrt bodies of two callow young a first brood that 

 had perished.* 



The early departure of swifts did not aetapo the attention of 

 White, who paid particular attention to thin species. What struck 

 him as mysterious was that the birds left at a time (mid-August) that 

 "is often the sweetest season in the year," when their food supply is 

 still apparently abundant " Are they," he asks, " regulated in their 

 motions with us by a failure of food, or by a projMmsity to moulting, 

 or by a disposition to rest after so rapid a life, or by what ? This is 

 one of those incidents in natural history that not only baffles our 

 searches, but almost eludes our guesses." These words were written 

 on September 28, 1774, to Harrington. They might with equal truth 

 be written to-day. 



1 In two case* recorded by Mr. Steele Elliot the periods were nix weeks three day* (Zoolngint, 

 1001, 478) and -i\ weekx six day* (Xoologut, 1000, 479). The date** on which the young left the 

 nest were respectively August 15 * n< ' about July 12. 

 Letter to Harrington, September 0, 1781. 



