136 MIGKATION OF THE SWIFT. 



are pure white. The shell is very fragile, and the inexperienced collector will often 

 break the shell in attempting to remove the contents. 



The young of the Swift are rather later in appearing than most young birds, seldom 

 being hatched until the end of June, and often delaying their advent until the beginning 

 of July. While in their juvenile plumage, they may be distinguished from the older birds 

 by their white chins and the yellowish white spots which appear on various parts of the 

 body. Owing in all probability to the lateness of the hatching time, there is only one 

 brood in the year. 



In this country the Swift pays but a very short visit, as the bird evidently requires a 

 very high temperature, and is forced to depart as soon as the weather becomes chilly. 

 Africa seems to be the true home of this species, and in various parts of that continent 

 the Swifts may be found throughout three-fourths of the year, forming a curious link 

 between countries so far removed from each other. Generally the Swifts leave England 

 by the end of August, but there are often instances where a solitary bird has delayed its 

 voyage for some good reason. A pair of Swifts have been known to remain in England 

 until the beginning of October, having overstayed their associates by a period of seven 

 weeks, for the purpose of remaining with a late brood of young, and acting as guides in 

 their long journey to Africa. Sometimes, however, the migrating instinct has conquered 

 the parental feelings, and the old birds have taken flight in company with their neighbours, 

 leaving their unfortunate young to perish miserably in their nests. 



It appears that the cause of a brood being delayed until so late in season, may be 

 found in the fact, that an accident had occurred to the former brood, and that the 

 reproductive instinct of the birds forced them to fulfil their destiny, and to rear a pair of 

 living young, in spite, of the bitterness of the season. Such, at all events, was the case 

 with the birds, whose strange behaviour was so well recorded by Gilbert White. Even 

 in this instance the male bird yielded to the migrating impulse, and flew away with or 

 after his companions, leaving his mate to the hard task of bringing up her young without 

 his aid : 



" 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 occasion so late a stay. I watched, therefore, until the twenty- 

 fourth 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 twenty-seventh, 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 generally 

 do. On the thirty-first I caused the eaves to be searched, but we found only two callow 

 dead Swifts, on which a second nest had been formed." 



As a general fact, Swifts and Swallows hold little communion with each other, though 

 they inhabit the same localities, and pursue the same description of prey. When, as is 

 often the case, they make their residence in the same street, it has been observed that the 

 two species occupied different sides of the street, the Swifts taking the north, and the 

 Swallows preferring the south. Even when upon the wing, the Swallows and Swifts seem 

 to have nothing in common with each other, but hold aloof in little parties of the same 

 species. 



The colour of the Swift is remarkably sombre, more so, indeed, than that of almost 

 any British bird. The whole of the plumage is dark sooty-black, devoid of the rich 

 green and purple gloss which is seen upon the rook and other dark-feathered birds, and 

 only relieved from its dull monotony by a grey patch below the chin. The beak is black 

 in colour, and very small, but the gape of the mouth is remarkably wide. The legs, toes, 

 and claws, are of the same dull black as the beak, and the eyes are brown. The entire 

 length of a full-grown Swift is about seven inches, the end of the wing reaching more 

 than an inch beyond the tip of the tail. The second primary is the longest feather in 

 the wing. 



