NOTES AND QUERIES. 153 



accord. We picnicked out a great deal, sometimes walking for miles, 

 and the Swift always came with us, and when putting up sandwiches, 

 I had always to remember a piece of wasp-comb. I once put its 

 basket down in the fern some distance from where we were sitting, 

 thinking it was securely fastened ; two hours later, when I went to 

 it, I found it hanging in the fern. It was at this time fully fledged. 

 Another day, when at the highest point of the common from which 

 an extensive valley slopes, I threw it up in the air, but it only 

 fluttered down into the fern and made no attempt to fly away. I 

 carried it with me on bicycle rides very often, hanging its basket on 

 the handle-bars ; on one occasion it accompanied me on a ride of 

 twenty-six miles. At first it showed restlessness but very quickly 

 became accustomed to it, and would settle down at the bottom of 

 its basket as soon as it was hung on the bicycle, not moving till the 

 end of the ride, when it would begin to chirp and climb up the side 

 of the basket. I thought this showed great intelligence; also it 

 would attract my attention when shut in its basket, if hungry or 

 thirsty. 



It takes very little water, and takes it from my mouth; it has a 

 queer little habit of shaking itself in anticipation as I take the water 

 into my mouth ; it generally sits on my hand both to eat and drink. 

 At the end of September the wasp grubs came to an end — from then 

 till the present time I have fed it on meat maggots. I give it thirty 

 for a meal every two hours, killing them first by snipping off the heads 

 with a pair of scissors. I once tried to see how many it would eat ; 

 when it reached fifty I left off, but the bird would have eaten more. 

 I find thirty are as many as it can digest well. It takes them from 

 the end of my finger, but never attempts to help itself, even when 

 the food is close under its beak, it seems not to recognize it. It takes 

 exercise by beating the air with its wings while holding tightly to 

 the edge of its basket with its claws. The legs appear to be very 

 weak. I have never seen it walking without at the same time 

 flapping its wings ; in this way it gets over the ground very quickly. 

 It very much objects to being on the ground, and will very quickly 

 climb up my dress till its head is under my chin ; there it will hang 

 for hours, nibbling occasionally at my throat, and no occupation or 

 position will dislodge it. As an adult bird it is very silent ; it has 

 only two cries — one a kind of scream which it utters with its mouth 

 very wide open to show annoyance, the other is a monotonous shrill 

 chirp, very much like the song of the cricket ; this cry it kept up 

 continually when young, often through the night as well. On one 



Zool. 4th ser. vol. XVIII.. April, 1914. n 



