THE SWIFTS. 



373 



approaches. All birds appear to have at times a failure of instinct, and the Swift is no exception to 

 the rule, for sometimes they are caught in some cold weather on their arrival, and it is not uncommon 

 to find them benumbed with cold, and fluttering helplessly or even lying dead on the ground. In 

 this latter position they are peculiarly helpless, their little legs being unable to raise them so as 

 to give them the proper momentum to rise into the air again, while their lon wino-s are much 

 in the way, and only assist in their entire discomfiture. The home of the Swift, then, is in the air 

 and here his evolutions are most 



, v v3 '' -." V " 



rapid, and performed with ex- 

 treme quickness and yet with 

 consummate ease. For his 

 breeding home he often selects 

 water-spouts on lofty buildings, 

 such as the English cathedrals, 

 or else places his nest under the 

 roofs of houses, to the edge of 

 which he is able to shuffle, and 

 then to launch himself suddenly 

 down, after which his course is 

 easy. In the evening there is 

 generally a little gathering of 

 Swifts together, when they fly 

 screaming round and round the 

 buildings in which their nests 

 have been placed, separating 

 again for a few moments to 

 rejoin in an excited flock, which 

 passes with incredible swiftness 

 and much noise round the edges 

 of the towers or homesteads. 

 When about to migrate, how- 

 ever, they are silent, and the 

 flocks which may be seen cours- 

 ing along the sides of the downs 

 in the southern counties of 

 England in August utter no 

 sound, as if impressed with the 

 gravity of the long journey they 

 are about to undertake. 



Macgillivray describes the 

 nest of the Common Swift as fol- 

 lows : " It is very rudely con- 

 structed, flattened, about six 

 inches in diameter and half an 

 inch thick ; composed of particles of Aira ctespitosa, straws of oats, wheat, and grasses, intermixed 

 with fibrous roots, moss, wool, cotton, hair, and feathers of the domestic fowl, partridge, and rook. 

 These materials are confusedly felted and agglutinated, the glueing matter being of a gelatinous, not 

 of a resinous, nature, and in extremely thin shreds, which crackle, but do not readily burn, when flame 

 is applied to them. There is, however, a small quantity of the membranous scales of the Scotch fir, 

 together with some resinous matter, in one of these nests." The eggs are generally two in number, of 

 a long oval shape, and entirely white. 



Swifts appear to be found all over the world, the most graceful being perhaps the Tree Swifts 

 (Dendroclielidon), which inhabit India and the Malayan region. In this same part of the world are 

 also found the Edible-nest Swiftlets (Collocalict), which breed in caves, their nests being eaten by the 

 142 



COMMON SWIFT. 



