The Swift 5 



screecli of Uie passing Swifts is lieard as lliey swiKjp past us in tlitir mad career, 

 and still rings upon our startled ears long after their marvellous powers of flight 

 have borne them beyond the range of vision. Soon lliey return again, rising and 

 falling in amorous chase, or wheel in devious circles liigli u]) in the blue vault of 

 heaven ; revelling apparently in the intensity of the heat and the cessation for a 

 time from parental duties. I have often noticed this habit in the Swifts, of leaving 

 the church towers and other nesting places about tlie noon-hour, as if to stretch 

 their cramped limbs, and seek their fond at a lime when their eggs would least 

 suffer from temporary exposure. There is another period, too, when the Swift 

 almost invariably appears abroad, though previously perhaps, unseen for hours. 

 The air is hot and stifling, and a sudden gloom creeps as it were over the earth 

 and sky. An almost painful stillness is broken onlj' by the chirping of the 

 Sparrows under the tiles, already conscious of a coming storm. Dark angrj- clouds 

 are drifting across the heavens, and one broad mass, perceptibi}^ increasing and 

 assuming each moment a deeper shade, bespeaks the lowering tempest. Now, as 

 we stand watching that strange yellow light, which spreads itself for awhile over 

 surrounding objects, as one by one the heav}- drops foretell the drenching shower, 

 strange dark forms are seen sweeping throrigh the air in the very ' e3-e of the 

 storm,' and the sooty plumage of the Swifts contrasts even with the blackest 

 portions of the surrounding atmosphere. No wonder, then, that their appearance 

 at such times, issuing from their fastnesses as the very ' demons of the storm,' 

 coupled with their ' uncanny ' looks and thrilling cries, should have won for them 

 in a superstitious age the local name of Devilins." (Birds of Norfolk, pp. 343-4). 



The above is so accurate a description of what one has frequently witnessed, 

 that it seemed a pity not to quote it : but it is not only in such a situation 

 that the lightning-like flight of the Swift is a thing to man-el at. As one 

 wanders through some countrj^ lane glancing from side to side at the hedge- 

 rows in search of nests, a dark figure swiftly glides past, sweeps almost to the 

 ground, rising just clears the top bar of the stile which closes the lane, and is 

 gone in an instant ; watching its headlong flight, one would have deemed it 

 impossible that it could thus by a few inches evade an obstruction in its path : 

 but when at full speed the Swift seems to have perfect control over itself in the 

 air, whereas in a confined space it blunders up against everA'thing, however slowly 

 it may fl)^ 



The nest of the Swift, w^hich swarms with fleas and ticks, is placed in crannies 

 in cliffs, old ruins, church towers, under roofs or thatches of buildings, in cowls 

 of oast-houses, or hollow branches of decayed trees. The structure is flattish and 

 roughly formed of straws, grasses, feathers, moss, wool, and cotton : glued together 



