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H I R U N D O. 



winged bird in proportion to its size. Tho weight of 

 the swift is about an ounce ; its length nearly eight 

 inches; its breadth about eighteen. The bill is black; 

 irides dusky ; with the exception of the chin, the 

 whole of the plumage is black, the chin being whitish. 

 The wings are extremely large, and the legs so short 

 that it rises from the ground with difficulty ; the legs 

 and toes are black, and the tail forked. The foot is 

 the principal structural character in which the swift 

 differs from the swallows. 



Swift. 



When \ve state that the swift is the loftiest inha- 

 bitant of the sky, we do not mean to say that it rises 

 higher than many other birds when migrating or even 

 when beating about for their prey, but the swift feeds 

 in the upper air, and is the only bird which habitually 

 does so. The swallows feed lower down, and the 

 nocturnal birds, which catch insects on the wing, 

 feed lower still ; but when we find swifts particularly 

 on the alert in their peculiar style of insect-catching, 

 they are always driving along and wheeling and 

 screeching at the very top of the sky. Of course 

 swifts are confined to places that are fertile and com- 

 paratively low, because it is in such places only that 

 a sufficient supply of insect food is found for any of 

 the race ; and it would be useless to suppose that 

 any bird could procure a living in the thin air over 

 the mountain tops ; but still we can observe that 

 beautiful gradation in the structure, the habits, and 

 the haunts of the swifts, which is traceable in all the 

 swallow tribe. Of our species the sand-martin is the 

 weakest in the body and the least powerful on the 

 wing, and it builds in holes of the earth, and flies low 

 over the surface of water and over ground which 

 abounds in winged insects, which rise during the day, 

 but not to any considerable height. The house-martin 

 comes next in order, building in the angles of 

 windows, or in the eaves of houses, and rarely 

 getting much above house-height in its ordinary fly- 

 ing. The swallow builds in the chimney, is better 

 winged than the martin, has the tail more forked, and 

 can pursue a bolder flight ; and accordingly we find 

 it flying higher and straining more vigorously on the 

 wing than either of the martins. The swift nestles 

 above house-height, in the crevices of steeples and 

 towers, and the crannies of rocks, where it constructs 

 its nest wholly of vegetable matter and feathers, with- 

 out any attempt at mud building. Though the swift 

 is bettor formed for activity than any of our other 

 summer birds, and is in reality more active, the 

 smaller number of its brood shows that the place 

 which nature assigns it is on the very confines of that 

 chill atmosohere in which no living creature can sub- 



sist. The eggs are rarely, if ever, more than two in 

 number, of a white colour, and considerably elon- 

 gated. The female is a close sitter, and while she is 

 on the nest the male bird hunts very industriously in 

 the neighbourhood, and is ever and anon serenading 

 her with his harsh and discordant screech. At night 

 the two birds are housed in the same crevice ; but 

 whether the male actually takes a share in the labour 

 of incubation has not been very clearly ascertained. 



The height to which swifts fly depends a good deal 

 upon the state of the weather. When the atmosphere 

 is pure and dry their flight is most elevated, but when 

 it is moist they fly much lower, and sometimes come 

 down so far as almost to touch the surface of the 

 water. In those troubled states of the atmosphere 

 which usually precede thunder-storms in our warm 

 months, they are more active than at other times, and 

 also more varied in the elevation of their flight They 

 seldom, if ever, alight on level ground, because their 

 short legs and long wings would make rising from 

 such surfaces a matter of considerable difficulty. 

 The swift is among the last of our swallows in coming, 

 and it is also the first to depart ; and this shows that 

 the place where they feed is the one which is the 

 latest in producing, and the first which ceases to be 

 'productive. The quantity of their motion during the 

 summer days is immense, for they are often sixteen 

 hours not only on the wing but in vigorous and con- 

 tinued flight, during which time they travel over as 

 many hundreds of miles as they fly hours. Such a 

 rate of flight, and power of continuance on it, ren- 

 ders migration a very simple matter with the swifts, 

 and it is not too much to say that they breakfast in 

 Africa and roost in England on their arrival, or 

 breakfast in England and roost in Africa when they 

 take their departure. 



WHITE-BELLIED SWIFT (C. aljrinui). This species, 

 which is of comparatively recent observation as a 

 British bird, and has hitherto been noticed only as a 

 straggler in the south-east of the island, differs in 

 colour, in size, and in some other particulars from the 

 common swift. With us the common swift is deep 

 black, with only the chin dull white, though the 

 black becomes brownish toward the close of the 

 season. The Alpine swift is brownish on the upper 

 part, and has the belly white. It is also a larger 

 bird, being about nine inches long. It has the bill 

 black, the feet flesh-coloured, the sides mottled with 

 a dusky colour and white, and a brownish grey collar 

 on the neck. 



Though a rare straggler in our island, the white- 

 bellied swift is a very fine bird, and perhaps has more 

 "dash" about it than the species with which we are 

 more familiar. Like the other, it is a migrant, but its 

 migrations are of a more southerly and easterly cha- 

 racter. Its range is from an indefinite distance, south- 

 ward, in Africa, to the average line of the Alps, though 

 we believe it is by no means common northward of 

 the summits of those mountains, excepting in the 

 Tyrol, where it is said to range farther to the north 

 than in more westerly longitudes. In coming and 

 going it is found in considerable numbers in the islands 

 of the Mediterranean, and on the coast of Italy ; but 

 these are not its proper habitats. It arrives in Upper 

 Lombardy and the adjacent countries about the 

 beginning of April ; but its first haunt is over the 

 pools and marshes, so that even this bird might have 

 been described as hybernating in the water, with as 

 much propriety as our common swallow. It remains 



