playing and feeding over the river just below the 

 bridge : others haunt some of the churches of the 

 Borough next the fields ; but do not venture, like 

 the house-martin, into the close, crowded part of 

 the town. 



The Swedes have bestowed a very pertinent 

 name on this swallow, calling it " ring swala," from 

 the perpetual rings or circles that it takes round the 

 scene of its nidification. 



Swifts feed on coleoptera, or small beetles with 

 hard cases over their wings, as well as on the softer 

 insects ; but it does not appear how they can pro- 

 cure gravel to grind their food, as swallows do, 

 since they never settle on the ground. Young ones, 

 overrun with hippoboscce, are sometimes found under 

 their nests, fallen to the ground ; the number of 

 vermin rendering their abode insupportable any 

 longer. They frequent in this village several abject 

 cottages ; yet a succession still haunts the same un- 

 likely roofs : a good proof this that the same birds 

 return to the same spots. As they must stoop very 

 low to get up under these humble eaves, cats lie in 

 wait, and sometimes catch them on the wing. 



On the 5th of July, 1775, I again untiled a part 



of a roof over the nest of a swift. The dam sat in 



the nest ; but so strongly was she affected by her 



natural (7x0/07/; for her brood, which she supposed to 



be in danger, that, regardless of her own safety, she 



would not stir, but lay sullenly by them, permitting 



40 



