312 NATURAL HISTORY 



have but two young to maintain, are much 

 at their leisure, and do not attend on their 

 nests for hours together. 



Sometimes they pursue and strike at 

 hawks that come in their way ; but not 

 with that vehemence and fury that swal- 

 lows express on the same occasion. They 

 are out all day long in wet days, feeding 

 about and disregarding still rain : from 

 whence two things may be gathered ; first, 

 that many insects abide high in the air, 

 even in rain ; and next, that the feathers 

 of these birds must be well preened to resist 

 so much wet. Windy, and particularly 

 windy weather with heavy showers, they 

 dislike , and on such days withdraw, and 

 are scarce ever seen. 



There is a circumstance respecting the 

 colour of swifts, which seems not to be un- 

 worthy our attention. When they arrive 

 in the Spring they are all over of a glossy, 

 dark soot colour, except their chins, which 

 are white ; but by being all day long in the 

 sun and air, they become quite weather- 

 beaten and bleached before they depart, and 



