82 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



On the 5th of July, 1775, I again untiled part of a roof 

 over the nest of a swift. The dam sat in the nest ; but so 

 strongly was she affected by natural ffropyrj for her brood, 

 which she supposed to be in danger, that, regardless of her 

 own safety, she would not stir, but lay sullenly by them, 

 permitting hesself to be taken in hand. The squab young 

 we brought down and placed on the grass-plot, where they 

 tumbled about, and were as helpless as a new-born child. 

 While we contemplated their naked bodies, their unwieldy 

 disproportioned abdomina, and their heads, too heavy for 

 their necks to support, we could not but wonder when we 

 reflected that these shiftless beings in a little more than a 

 fortnight would be able to dash through the air almost with 

 the inconceivable swiftness of a meteor ; and perhaps in 

 their emigration, must traverse vast continents and oceans 

 as distant as the equator. So soon does Nature advance 

 small birds to their rfKucla, or state of perfection ; while the 

 progressive growth of men and large quadrupeds is slow 

 and tedious ! I am, &c. 



