252 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



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 till the 24th 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 

 Hippoboscce 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 remark, that 

 swifts breed regularly but once ; since, was the contrary 

 the case, the occurrence above could neither be new 

 nor rare. 



P.S. One swift was seen at Lyndon, in the county of 

 Rutland, in 1780, so late as the 3rd September. 



