222 THE BLACK MARTIX. OR STHFT. 



The Swift visits England the latest, and leaves the earliest, of any bird 

 of its tribe : it does not often arrive before the begining of May, and 

 seldom remains later than the middle of August. 



It is the most active of all birds ; being on wing, in the height of 

 summer, at least sixteen hours in the day ; withdrawing to rest, in the 

 longest days, about a quarter before nine in the evening, some time 

 after all the other day-birds are gone. Just before they retire, large 

 groups of Swifts assemble high in the air, screaming, and shooting 

 about with wonderful rapidity. They are chiefly alert iu sultry , 

 lowering weather; when they express great alacrity, and seem to call 

 forth all their powers. 



In hot mornings, the Swifts collect together, in little parties, and 

 dash around tho steeples and churches, squeaking at the same time in 

 a very clamorous manner. These are supposed to be the males sere- 

 nading the sitting hens ; as they seldom make this noise till they come 

 close to the walls or eaves, and those within always utter in return a 

 faint note of complacency. When the hen has been occupied all the 

 day in sitting, she rushes forth, just before it is dark, to relieve her 

 weary limbs. She snatches a scanty meal for a few minutes, and then 

 returns to her task of incubation. 



Swifts, when shot while they have young-ones, are found to have 

 a little cluster of insects in their mouths, which they pouch and 

 hold under their tongue. In general, they fly and feed higher in the 

 air than any other species. They also range to vast distances ; for 

 motion is but a slight labor to them, endowed as they are with such 

 wonderful powers of wing. Sometimes, however, in the summer they 

 may be observed, for many successive hours, hawking very low, over 

 pools and streams, in search of the Cadew-flies, May-flies, and Dragon 

 flies, which frequent the banks and surface of waters, and which afford 

 them a plentiful nourishment. Sometimes they pursue and strike at 

 birds of prey when they are sailing about in the air ; but they do not 

 express so much vehemence and fury on these occasions as the Swallows, 



Swifts breed but once in the summer and produce no more than two 

 young-ones at a trme. 



The main body of these birds retire from this country before the 

 middle of August, generally by the 10th, (which is but a short time 

 after the flight of their young-ones,) and not a single straggler is to be 

 eeen on the 20th. This early retreat is totally unaccountable, as that 

 time is often the most delightful in the year. But, what is yet more 

 extraordinary, they begin to retire still earlier in the most southerly 

 parts of Andalusia ; where they cannot be influenced by any defect 

 of heat, or even (as one would suppose) of food. This is one of those 

 incidents in natural history, which not only baffle our researches, but 

 also elude our conjectures. 



The voice of the Swift is a harsh scream ; yet there are few ears to 

 which it is not pleasing, from an agreeable association of ideas, since 

 it is never heard but in the most lovely weather of summer. These 

 birds never, unless by accident, settle on the ground, from the diffi- 

 culty they have in walking, or rather (as it may be called) in crawling; 

 but they have a strong grasp with their feet, by which they readily 



