174 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, 



Swifts, like sand-martins, carry on the business of nidifica- 

 tion quite in the dark, in crannies of castles, and towers, and 

 steeples, and upon the tops of the walls of churches under 

 the roof, and therefore cannot be so narrowly watched as 

 those species that build more openly ; but, from what I 

 could ever observe, they begin nesting about the middle of 

 May, and I have remarked, from eggs taken, that they 

 have sat hard by the 9th June. In general they haunt tall 

 buildings, churches, and steeples, and breed only in such ; 

 yet in this village some pairs frequent the lowest and 

 meanest cottages, and educate their young under those 

 thatched roofs. We remember but one instance where they 

 breed out of buildings, and that is in the sides of a deep 

 chalk-pit near the town of Odiham in this county, where 

 we have seen many pairs entering the crevices, and skim- 

 ming 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 

 species 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, was 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 groat 

 height from the ground, he would see, every now and then, 



