THE COMMON SWIFT. 411 



about twenty nests of the martin. When in the town of Bally- 

 money, on the same day, I observed several swifts to fly under the 

 thatch of a house similar to that described, while some inhabited 

 nests of the martin appeared against it. On the 24th of June, 

 1834, the swift was remarked to have similar nesting-places in 

 Lisburn and Banbridge. In all the above-mentioned localities, 

 these birds were flying about in groups, screaming violently, the 

 weather being delightfully warm, and the sky " purely, beauti- 

 fully blue," not a cloud being visible. For a week after the 

 former date the weather continued very warm and dry. Spirited 

 horses that I have ridden, have occasionally been startled by the 

 loud scream of the swift, as it swept closely past. 



In Belfast, where houses such as those described are not to be 

 met with, I have known the swift's nest to be placed under the 

 window-sills of houses newly erected, to winch the bird gained 

 access by means of an aperture, about an inch in width, that the 

 careless builder had neglected to close up. An ornithological 

 friend has seen swifts fly under the eaves of low thatched cottages 

 in the village of Magheralin (county Down), where they doubtless 

 build. 



Two swifts' nests manually examined by my informant in the 

 summer of 1839, were placed on the wall-top of a two-story 

 thatched house, and were like a sparrow's nest in a similar situa- 

 tion, but contained fewer feathers. In the one nest, were two 

 eggs which had been long incubated, and therefore the full 

 number ; in the other, were three young birds. Swifts for some 

 years previously had built at this house, inside of which the com- 

 mon swallow as regularly did so. From two nests in the same 

 house, two and three eggs were severally taken, in 1848. 



Swifts, like martins, frequent the basaltic precipices of the 

 north coast of Ireland, from the southern extremity of the range 

 at the Cave hill near Belfast, to their northern termination above 

 the sand-hills of Magilligan. Their being always present about 

 them during their sojourn, indicate that they have dwellings in 

 the crevices.* 



* White of Selborne mentions swifts " breeding in the sides of a deep chalk-pit at 



