OF SELBORNE. 207 



infested with those pests to the genus called Hippo- 

 boscce hirundinis ; and often wriggle and scratch them selves , 

 in their flight, to get rid of that clinging annoyance. 



Swifts are no songsters, and have only one harsh 

 screaming note : yet there are ears to which it is not 

 displeasing, from an agreeable association of ideas, since 

 that note never occurs but in the most lovely summer 

 weather. 



They never settle on the ground but through accident; 

 and when down can hardly rise, on account of the shortness 

 of their legs and the length of their wings : neither can 

 they walk, but only crawl ; but they have a strong grasp 

 with their feet, by which they cling to walls. Their bodies 

 being flat they can enter a very narrow crevice ; and where 

 they cannot pass on their bellies they will turn up edge- 

 wise. 



The particular formation of the foot discriminates the 

 swift from all the British Hirundines ; and indeed from all 

 other known birds, the Hirundo melba, or great white- 

 bellied swift of Gibraltar, excepted; for it is so disposed 

 as to carry " omnes quatuor digitos anticos," all its four toes 

 forward ; besides, the least toe, which should be the back 

 toe, consists of one bone alone, and the other three only of 

 two apiece : a construction most rare and peculiar, but nicely 

 adapted to the purposes in which their feet are employed. 

 This, and some peculiarities attending the nostrils and 

 under mandible, have induced a discerning naturalist l to 

 suppose that this species might constitute a genus per S6? 



In London a party of swifts frequents the Tower, playing 



1 John Antony Scopoli, of Carniola, M.D. G. W. 



2 The genus suggested by Scopoli has been adopted by modern 

 zoologists, and has been made to include all the species of swifts : but 

 the name which he gave to it has been superseded by that of Cypseius, 

 applied to it by Illiger and adopted from Aristotle, which is considered 

 as indicating the habit of hiding their nests in holes. 



The great white-bellied swift above referred to, an inhabitant of 

 Central and Southern Europe, Western Asia, and Africa, is an occasional 

 straggler to our shores. Since the days of Gilbert White a score of 

 instances have been recorded of its occurrence in the British Islands. 

 See the "Handbook of British Birds," p. 125. ED. 



