152 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



described to me as exactly like " the Great Plover's human whistle " 

 mentioned by Tennyson, and I was also told that the Dabchicks, 

 which have now returned to the moat, seemed from their calls to be 

 much disturbed by the unusual sounds. It is an early date for the 

 Stone Curlew ; I have a note of one which I handled in the flesh at 

 Bury on March 25th, 1899. — Julian G. Tuck (Tostock Eectory, 

 Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk). 



Avicultural Notes. — I have been asked by a well-known ornitho- 

 logist to write an account of my tame Swift (Cypselus apus). I found 

 the little creature last summer on June 30th, when passing through 

 the village of Bircher, about five miles from the town of Leominster, 

 where I live. It had fallen from its nest, and was making strenuous 

 efforts to climb up the wall of the house back to it, for the nest was 

 under the eaves just above where the little creature was struggling 

 on the ground. The old birds were screaming joyously overhead, 

 appearing to know nothing about it. 



The little Swift was about two inches long, its colour was grey, 

 the quills were just beginning to appear, and even at that early age 

 the last joint of the wings took an upward curve. It appeared to be 

 strong and healthy. I placed it under a clump of weeds near by in 

 the shade, as it was a very hot day. I was spending several hours 

 on the common a mile further on, and finding it still there on my 

 return in the evening, I took it home with me. For the first four or 

 five days I fed it every half hour on small quantities of blight. For 

 the next month I fed it on mountain bread, the food used for young 

 canaries, but it did not thrive at all well on it. It hardly grew at all, 

 and the development of the feathers was very poor ;' its body was 

 covered at the end of a month but very thinly, and the wings were 

 covered with short feathers. At the end of July I went to stay on 

 Bircher Common for ten weeks, and took the bird with me. At this 

 time I began to feed it on wasp grubs ; these it liked very much. I 

 led an outdoor life and took my little Swift everywhere. 



It developed very quickly under these conditions ; the wings 

 grew very long and strong, and appeared to be quite normal, but for 

 some reason or other it has never used its wings for sustained flight 

 except on one occasion. I had left it upstairs, and while sitting at 

 breakfast, suddenly heard a flutter of wings and the little Swift 

 alighted at my feet, passing on its way an open window and door. I 

 only kept it in confinement when necessary for its safety. While 

 staying on the common I used to hang its basket on the garden fence, 

 when it would climb about and retire to its basket again of its own 



