CONCERNING SWIFTS 167 



and splendid Houses of Parliament, which, stand- 

 ing on an elevation in the midst of large gardens, 

 are at once the most conspicuous and beautiful 

 buildings in all Canada. The cry of the bird is 

 now often repeated. It consists of two or three 

 repetitions of a sharp little note, very short, like 

 the shortest note ever uttered by our swift. Pre- 

 sently another group of swifts joins that under 

 observation, the size of which is thereby doubled ; 

 but a minute or so later another group arrives, 

 then another, and so on, all coming from various 

 points of the compass. Gradually the swarm of 

 birds becomes immense, like a swarm of bees, but 

 occupying very much more of the sky. They 

 circle slowly round and round, chirping merrily, 

 and the sound of their multitudinous voices is like 

 the noise of a stiff breeze shaking the leaves of a 

 grove of aspen poplars. The circle always turns 

 in the same direction, and you notice that one side 

 is lower than the other, and denser. It dips and 

 envelopes the summit of a tower on one of the 

 great buildings. Against the grated aperture in 

 that tower the torrent breaks. The birds are 

 there so thick, you can hardly see daylight 



