242 The Natural History of Selborne 



usurp upon the house-sparrows, and expel them, as sparrows do the 

 house and sand-martin ; well remembering that I have seen them 

 squabbling together at the entrance of their holes, and the sparrows 

 up in arms, and much disconcerted at these intruders. And yet I am 

 assured, by a nice observer in such matters, that they do collect feathers 

 for their nests in Andalusia, and that he has shot them with such 

 materials in their mouths. 1 



Swifts, like sand-martins, carry on the business of nidification 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 chalk-pit 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 con- 

 vinced. 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 



1 It is now known that the swift collects materials for its nest on the wing in 

 the same way as other birds of similar habits. ED. 



