The Bird Book 



which never voluntarily alights on the ground 

 even to secure the materials for its scanty nest. 

 This is always placed in such a position that the 

 bird can shuffle to the opening and launch forth at 

 once into the air, and consequently the favourite 

 site is under the roof of some building, though 

 occasionally a crevice either in a cliff or tower is 

 used. 



The nest is an untidy collection of a few straws 

 and feathers, often cemented by the bird's saliva, 

 and sometimes the two pure white eggs of an 

 elongated oval shape are deposited on an accumu- 

 lation of dust and cobweb. Occasionally three or 

 even four eggs are found, but it may be doubted 

 whether they are the production of one bird, for 

 Swifts are gregarious in their nesting habits, and a 

 large colony is often sheltered by one roof. 



Broad daylight seems no actual inconvenience to 

 them, for they may frequently be seen at mid-day 

 high up in the sky, wheeling in wide circles on 

 apparently motionless wings ; but it is towards 

 evening that they become most active. They then 

 issue from their holes, and in companies of ten or 

 a dozen career madly along the street or round 

 the buildings in which their nests are situated, 

 screaming vigorously in chorus, evidently realising 

 to the full all " the wild joys of living." 



There is one other bird which earns its living 

 by taking toll of all sorts of winged insects, less 

 common, perhaps, than the Swift, yet to be seen 

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