274 NATURAL HISTORY 



server 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. 



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 9th 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 skim- 

 ming 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 obser- 

 vation. The fact that I would advance is, that swifts 

 pair 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 pairing 

 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 pairing ex- 

 cept 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 



