206 SWIFTS. 



crevices, and skimming and squeaking round the 

 precipices. 



As I have regarded these amusive birds with 

 no small attention, if I should advance something 

 new and peculiar with respect to them, and 

 different from all other birds, I might perhaps be 

 credited, especially as my assertion is the result 

 of many years' exact observation. The fact that 

 I would advance is, that swifts tread, or copulate, 

 on the wing ; and I would wish any nice observer, 

 that is startled at this supposition, to use his own 

 eyes, and I think he will soon be convinced. In 

 another class of animals, viz. the insect, nothing 

 is so common as to see the different sexes of 

 many genera in conjunction as they fly. The 

 swift is almost continually on the wing ; and, as 

 it never settles on the ground, on trees, or roofs, 

 would seldom find opportunity for amorous rites, 

 were it not enabled to indulge them in the air. 

 If any person would watch these birds of a fine 

 morning in May, as they are sailing round at a 

 great height from the ground, he would see every 

 now and then, one drop on the back of another, 

 and both of them sink down together for many 

 fathoms with a loud piercing shriek. This I take 

 to be the juncture when the business of genera- 

 tion is carrying on. 



As the swift eats, drinks, collects materials for 

 its nest, and, as it seems, propagates on the wing, 

 it appears to live more in the air than any other 

 bird, and to perform all functions there, save those 

 of sleeping and incubation. 



This hirundo differs widely from its congeners 

 in laying invariably but two eggs at a time, which 

 are milk-white, long, and peaked at the small end; 

 whereas the other species lay at each brood from 



