OF SELBORNE 161 



The Swedes have bestowed a very pertinent name on 

 this swallow, calling it ring swa/a, from the perpetual rings 

 or circles that it takes round the scene of its nidification. 



Swifts feed on co/eopfera, or small beetles with hard cases 

 over their wings, as well as on the softer insects ; but it 

 does not appear how they can procure gravel to grind their 

 food, as swallows do, since they never settle on the ground. 

 Young ones, over-run with hippoboscae, are sometimes 

 found, under their nests, fallen to the ground : the number 

 of vermin rendering their abode insupportable any longer. 

 They frequent in this village several abject cottages : yet a 

 succession still haunts the same unlikely roofs : a good 

 proof this that the same birds return to the same spots. 

 As they must stoop very low to get up under these 

 humble eaves, cats lie in wait, and sometimes catch them 

 on the wing. 



On the fifth of July, 1775, 1 again untiled part of a roof 

 over the nest of a swift. The dam sat in the nest ; but so 

 strongly was she affected by natural <rropy^ for her brood, 

 which she supposed to be in danger, that, regardless of her 

 own safety, she would not stir, but lay sullenly by them, 

 permitting herself to be taken in hand. The squab young 

 we brought down and placed on the grass-plot, where they 

 tumbled about, and were as helpless as a new-born child. 

 While we contemplated their naked bodies, their unwieldy 

 disproportioned abdomina, and their heads, too heavy for 

 their necks to support, we could not but wonder when we 

 reflected that these shiftless beings in a little more than a 

 fortnight would be able to dash through the air almost 

 with the inconceivable swiftness of a meteor ; and perhaps, 

 in their emigration must traverse vast continents and oceans 

 as distant as the equator. So soon does Nature advance 

 small birds to their >/Af/c/a, or state of perfection ; while the 

 progressive growth of men and large quadrupeds is slow 

 and tedious ! 



I am, etc. 



