156 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



collect feathers for their nests in Andalusia; and that he 

 has shot them with such materials in their mouths. 



Swifts, like sand-martins, carry on the business of nidifi- 

 cation quite in the dark, in crannies of castles, and towers, 

 and steeples, and upon the tops of the walls of churches 

 under the roof; and therefore cannot be so narrowly 

 watched as those species that build more openly : but, 

 from what I could ever observe, they begin nesting about 

 the middle of May; and I have remarked, from eggs taken, 

 that they have sat hard by the ninth of June. In general 

 they haunt tall buildings, churches, and steeples, and breed 

 only in such : yet in this village some pairs frequent the 

 lowest and meanest cottages, and educate their young under 

 those thatched roofs. We remember but one instance where 

 they breed out of buildings ; and that is in the sides of a 

 deep chalkpit near the town of Odiham, in this county, 

 where we have seen many pairs entering the crevices, and 

 skimming and squeaking round the precipices. 



As I have regarded these amusive birds with no small 

 attention, if I should advance something new and peculiar 

 with respect to them, and different from all other birds, 

 I might perhaps be credited ; especially as my assertion is 

 the result of many years' exact observation. The fact that 

 I would advance is, that swifts tread, or copulate, on the 

 wing : and I would wish any nice observer, that is startled 

 at this supposition, to use his own eyes, and I think he 

 will soon be convinced. In another class of animals, viz. 

 the insect, nothing is so common as to see the different 

 species of many genera in conjunction as they fly. The 

 swift is almost continually on the wing ; and as it never 

 settles on the ground, on trees, or roofs, would seldom find 

 opportunity for amorous rites, was it not enabled to indulge 

 them in the air. If any person would watch these birds of 

 a fine morning in May, as they are sailing round at a great 

 height from the ground, he would see, every now and then, 

 one drop on the back of another, and both of them sink 

 down together for many fathoms with a loud piercing 

 shriek. This I take to be the juncture when the business 

 of generation is carrying on. 



