410 hirundinidjE. 



May 22nd, 1833. — After eight this evening, which was very warm and the sky 

 cloudless, swifts, as noisy as usual, were flying about in little parties of three or 

 four : two of these parties would occasionally join, and continue together for a short 

 time, screaming vociferously. Their evolutions with that accompaniment, have always 

 seemed to me manifestations of pure enjoyment. When these parties were about to 

 meet, and when just separating, their power of screaming was exerted to the utmost.* 

 Evolutions, in which a much greater number of these birds participated, were wit- 

 nessed on the 24th inst., the weather being similar to that on the 22nd. The 

 state of the barometer and weather has been mentioned, that some idea may be 

 formed whether or not the atmosphere could have been " highly electrical " through- 

 out the varied weather described, or indeed daily throughout that of any two- months 

 in this climate.f 



Swifts particularly delight in flying about the squares and 

 large open spaces in towns. Lofty edifices, especially when in a 

 state of dilapidation, are preferred by them for building in; but 

 in the north of Ireland, where these do not often occur, they con- 

 tent themselves with more humble dwellings. J In many of our 

 northern towns (where swifts are as plentiful as in any country) 

 they select as their domicile the eaves of the oldest houses, or those 

 from which the fast encroaching spirit of improvement, has not 

 yet banished the thatched roofs. On the 8th of July, 1833, I 

 observed many of these birds flying under the eaves and clinging 

 to the walls of occupied two-story houses of this kind, in the 

 town of Antrim. Although they and the martins appeared an 

 indiscriminate multitude when flying about the streets, their places 

 of nidification were quite distinct, the martins building on the 

 south, and the swifts confining themselves to the north side : on 

 a house just opposite the chief abode of the latter, I reckoned 



* Mr. Macgillivray remarks, " that the loudest and most frequent cries are heard 

 when birds are evidently in active and successful pursuit." At the times above 

 alluded to, they certainly were not feeding. 



f Mr. Macgillivray, in his British Birds, vol. iii. pp. 619 and 622, enters fully 

 into the subject of the swift's screaming. His observations of 1837 very generally 

 agree with mine, made a few years before. Dr. J. D. Marshall, in his memoir on 

 the Statistics and Natural History of the island of Rathlin, where swifts are plentiful, 

 states that the result of his observations is opposed to the views of White and Selby. 

 He believes the loud screaming of these birds to be particularly induced by fine 

 weather and an abundance of food. 



| When on Ram's Island, in Lough Neagh, in the month of June, 1833, I re- 

 mained several of these birds flying in the vicinity of the ancient round tower, whose 

 " rents of ruin " were most probably then - breeding place. 



