SWIFT. 123 



August, 1844; and two on the 1st. of September, in the same 

 year. One was 'seen by Robert Blagden Hale, Esq., M.P., 

 of Alderley, on the 9th. of September, 1839; two by the Kev. 

 \V. T. Bree, near Penzance, on the 15th. of September; three 

 young ones by E. W. Dowell, Esq., of Jesus College, Cam- 

 bridge, on the 25th. of September, 1842, at Salthouse, near 

 Cley, Norfolk; and one by Mr. F. A. Chennell, at St. Anne's 

 Hill, Chertsey, on the 1st. of October, 1844. A pair were 

 observed by Mr. Salmon to feed their young until the 4th. 

 of October. One was seen by the Rev. Mr. Jackson, October 

 18th., 1836; three near Brighton, on the 29th. of October, 

 1849; one by Mr. Blackwall, on the 20th. of October, 1815; 

 others by Mr. W. H. White, on the 27th. of October. One 

 in Perthshire, on the 8th. of November, 1834; and one by 

 the Rev. Mr. Cornish, in Devonshire, on the 27th. of November, 

 1S35. In Ireland, W. Thompson, Esq. observed a number 

 near Belfast, on the 19th. of August, 1840; and on the 20th. 

 of that month in 1832. On the 18th., in 1845, they were 

 as numerous as in June; and on the 22nd. and 23rd. a single 

 bird was seen. In 1833, he saw about twenty on the 30th. 

 In 1848, one or two were observed on the 1st. of September; 

 several about Dunluce Castle on the 4th. of that month, in 

 Ls35; and on the llth. in the following year, three were seen 

 by Mr. Thompson at the seat of Lord Hillsborough, in the 

 county of Down. The arrival of Swifts is sudden and simul- 

 taneous, and their departure the same; but they are more 

 than ordinarily noisy for a few days previously. Cold or wet 

 weather soon after their arrival sometimes proves fatal to these 

 birds; perhaps through lack of subsistence in consequence. 



The following curious circumstance is recorded by Mr. T. 

 Catchpool, Jun., in the 'Zoologist,' pages 1499-1500: Speaking 

 of an excursion for the day, in the end of June, 1835, to 

 Walton-on-the-Naze, on the Essex coast, he says, 'Our attention 

 was soon directed to a Common Swift, which had just entered 

 a small crevice: it flew away before we could reach it. But 

 almost directly after, we saw others clinging to slight pro- 

 jections, and settling on the ledges; and so entirely did they 

 appear weakened by the low temperature of the atmosphere, 

 that they allowed themselves to be taken by the hand without 

 the least struggle to escape. In some places they were settled 

 one upon another, four or five deep, and we literally took 

 them up by handfulls five or six together. So numerous 

 were they, that we could probably have caught some hundreds ; 



