SWIFT. 163 



cipally chalk or clay, with very little of gravelly or 

 sandy deposits, is unfavourable to their habits. 



SWIFT. * 



SWIFTS, which delight much in large and exten- 

 sive buildings, are not numerous in this village. 

 Recollecting White's remark, that he observed the 

 same number of pairs at Selborne invariably every 

 year,*!" ^ nave often counted the few that are to be 

 seen flying about, in order to ascertain whether any 

 thing similar is the case here. As far as my observ- 

 ation goes, the number does vary, and seems to have 

 been rather increasing of late years. Previously to 

 1826, 1 never noticed more than two pairs ; but since 

 then I have observed generally four, and during the 

 one or two last seasons as many as five. These all 

 build in the crannies of the church steeple, with the 

 exception of a single pair that take up their abode 

 from year to year under the eaves of a dovecote in 

 an adjoining orchard. They are always late in 

 coming to us in the spring, being seldom seen before 

 the middle of May, and are generally gone again by 

 the end of July ; thus making but a short visit of 

 scarcely more than nine or ten weeks. 



Swifts remain longer at Ely than any other place 

 where I have had an opportunity of observing them. 

 The bulk of them hardly ever retire there till quite 



* Cypselus apus, Flem. 



t Nat. Hist, of Selborne, Lett. XXXIX. to D. Barrington. 



