286 SWIFTS. 



bestowed any attention on that species of hirun- 

 dines. Our swifts, in general, withdrew this year 

 about the first day of August, all save one pair, 

 which in two or three days was reduced to a single 

 bird. The perseverance of this individual made 

 me suspect that the strongest of motives, that 

 of an attachment to her young, could alone occa- 

 sion so late a stay. I watched therefore till the 

 24th of August, and then discovered that, under 

 the eaves of the church, she attended upon two 

 young, which were fledged, and now put out their 

 white chins from a crevice. These remained till 

 the 27th, looking more alert every day, and 

 seeming to long to be on the wing. After this 

 day they were missing at once ; nor could I ever 

 observe them with their dam coursing round the 

 church in the act of learning to fly, as the first 

 broods evidently do. On the 31st I caused the 

 eaves to be searched, but we found in the nest 

 only two callow, dead, stinking swifts, on which 

 a second nest had been formed. This double nest 

 was full of the black shining cases of the hippo - 

 bosca hirundinis. 



The following remarks on this unusual incident 

 are obvious. The first is, that though it may 

 be disagreeable to swifts to remain beyond the 

 beginning of August, yet that they can subsist 

 longer is undeniable. The second is, that this 

 uncommon event, as it was owing to the loss of 

 the first brood, so it corroborates my former re- 

 mark, that swifts breed regularly but once ; since, 

 was the contrary the case, the occurrence above 

 could neither be new nor rare. 



One swift was seen at Lyndon, in the county of 

 Rutland, in 1782, so late as the 3d of September. 



