1 62 NATURE'S STORY OF THE YEAR 



of some observations made. On more than one 

 occasion a group of swifts, when nearly vanished 

 overhead, would be joined by another group, 

 coming I knew not whence, but finally ascending 

 with the others. 



In 1891 Mr. Edwards published in Nature Notes 

 a long and very interesting account of his ex- 

 periences with the swifts. No other ornithologist 

 seems to have so closely observed the bird. He 

 says : 



"About seventy or eighty swifts build in the church, 

 and I have watched them for well-nigh twenty years. . . . 

 About forty, as nearly as I can guess, every fine night, 

 gather above the church and slowly ascend, wheeling ' in 

 and out and round about ' and screaming the whole time. 

 When they have reached a certain height they stop wheel- 

 ing inter se and point their heads all the same way, con- 

 tinuing to soar in wide circles until they are lost to sight. 

 I have good sight, and on a clear July evening, at 9.15, I 

 have seen these high-flying swifts like a little cloud, when 

 they were so high that I could not distinguish the indi- 

 viduals. At about the middle of May they go up at 8.35, 

 and gradually get later until the longest evenings, when 

 they go up at 9.15 ; then they get earlier again till just 

 before they leave, when they go up at 8.10. 



"One night, having seen the swifts go up at 9.10, I sat 

 on a tombstone under the south eaves of the church (where 

 many nest) until 10.30. Two low-flying female swifts 



