of Selborne i6i 



others haunt some of the churches of the Borough next 

 the fields ; but do not venture, like the house-martin, into 

 the close crowded part of the town. 



The Swedes have bestowed a very pertinent name on 

 this swallow, calling it I'ifig swala^ from the perpetual 

 rings or circles that it takes round the scene of its 

 nidification. 



Swifts feed on coleoptera^ or small beetles with hard 

 cases over their wings, as well as on the softer insects ; 

 but it does not appear how they can procure gravel to 

 grind their food, as swallows do, since they never settle 

 on the ground. Young ones, over-run Avith hippobosccp.^ 

 are sometimes found, under their nests, fallen to the 

 ground : the number of vermin rendering their abode 

 insupportable any longer. They frequent in this village 

 several abject cottages : yet a succession still haunts the 

 same unlikely roofs : a good proof this that the same 

 birds return to the same spots. As they must stoop very 

 low to get up under these humble eaves, cats lie in wait, 

 and sometimes catch them on the wing. 



On the fifth of July, 1775, ^ ''igain 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 a-ropyr] for her 

 brood, which she supposed to be in danger, that, regard- 

 less of her own safety, she would not stir, but lay sullenly 

 by them, permitting herself 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 obdornina^ 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 rjXiKta, or 

 state of perfection ; while the progressive growth of men 

 and large quadrupeds is slow and tedious ! 



I am, etc. 



L 



