OFSELBORNE. 275 



now and then, two meet, and both of them sink down 

 together for many fathoms with a loud piercing shriek. 



As the swift eats, drinks, collects materials for its 

 nest, and, as it seems, propagates on the wing ; it ap- 

 pears to live more in the air than any other bird, and to 

 perform all functions there save those of sleeping and 

 incubation. 



This Hirundo differs widely from its congeners in 

 laying invariably but two eggs at a time/ which are 

 milk-white, long, and peaked at the small end ; whereas 

 the other species lay at each brood from four to six. It 

 is a most alert bird, rising very early, and retiring to 

 roost very late; and is on the wing in the height of 

 summer at least sixteen hours. In the longest days it 

 does not withdraw to rest till a quarter before nine in 

 the evening, being the latest of all day birds. Just 

 before they retire, whole groups of them assemble high 

 in the air, and squeak, and shoot about with wonderful 

 rapidity. But this bird is never so much alive as in 

 sultry thundry weather, when it expresses great ala- 

 crity, and calls forth all its powers. In hot mornings, 

 several, getting together in little parties, dash round 

 the steeples and churches, squeaking as they go in a 

 very clamorous manner : these, by nice observers, are 

 supposed to be males serenading their sitting hens ; 

 and not without reason, since they seldom squeak till 

 they come close to the walls or eaves, and since those 

 within utter at the same time a little inward note of 

 complacency. 



When the hen has sat hard all day, she rushes forth 

 just as it is almost dark, and stretches and relieves her 

 weary limbs, and snatches a scanty meal for a few 

 minutes, and then returns to her duty of incubation. 

 Swifts, when wantonly and cruelly shot while they have 

 young, discover a little lump of insects in their mouths, 

 which they pouch and hold under their tongue 1 . In 



1 An example of the bird, shot under these circumstances, was exhi- 

 bited by Dr. Heming to the Zoological Society in 1834. The collection 



T 2 



