THE SWIFT 



CTPSELUS^PUS 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : " Shriek Owl," 

 " Deviling," " Tommy Devil " (Essex), 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A common and widely 

 distributed summer visitor. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : v The Swift is another bird that formerly bred in 

 the very heart of the city, on the Tower, and in the towers 

 of some of the churches in the Borough. I have seen 

 the Swift in such central spots as Battersea, \Kensington, 

 Lord's cricket ground, and Regent's Park ; further afield 

 at Clapham, Dulwich, Peckham, Greenwich, and Victoria 

 Park, but do not know whether it breeds in any of them. 

 Of the more rural suburbs, however, in which it regularly 

 does so, I may mention Willesden (in the tower of the old 

 parish church), Harlesden, Kilburn, Putney, Wimble- 

 don, Tooting, Streatham, Sydenham, El tham, Woolwich, 

 Wanstead, Epping, Enfield, Hendon, and Wembley. It 

 is also a regular visitor to the Harrow, Hanwell, Southall, 

 Hounslow, Richmond, Kingston, Merton, and Banstead 

 districts. In fact, there are few if any of the more rural 

 suburbs that the Swift does not visit occasionally, if it 

 does not regularly nest in them, and as we get into the 

 outlying areas its presence calls for no special record. 

 Taking into consideration the facts of its Metropolitan 

 distribution the bird must migrate regularly over the 

 very central parts of London. I have seen small parties 

 obviously on passage over Paddington, St. John's Wood, 

 and above the Stadium. 



Although popularly classed as one of the Swallows, 

 the Swift is but remotely related to them, its nearest 

 allies being, perhaps, the Humming Birds of the New 

 World. The Swift is one of the latest summer migrants, 

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