64 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Alacrity Serenading ot' the males. 



This bird visits us the latest, and leaves us the 

 soonest, of any of the tribe : it does not often 

 arrive before the beginning of May, and seldom 

 remains later than the middle of August. It is 

 the most active of all birds : being on the wing, 

 in the height of summer, at least sixteen hours 

 in the day ; withdrawing to rest, in the longest 

 days, about a quarter before nine in the evening, 

 some time after all the other day-birds are gone. 

 Just before they retire, large groups of them 

 assemble high in the air, screaming, and shoot- 

 ing about with wonderful rapidity. This bird is, 

 however, never so alert as in sultry louring wea- 

 ther ; when it expresses great alacrity, and calls 

 forth all its powers. 



The swifts, in hot mornings, collect together 

 in little parties, and dash round the steeples and 

 churches, squeaking at the same time in a very 

 elamorous manner. These are supposed to be 

 the males, serenading the sitting hens ; as they 

 seldom make this noise till they come close to 

 the walls or eaves, and those within always utter 

 a faint note of complacency. When the hen 

 has been occupied all day in sitting, she rushes 

 forth, just before it is dark, to relieve her weary 

 limbs ; she snatches a scanty meal for a few mi- 

 nutes, and then returns to the task of incubation. 

 These birds differ from all the other British hi- 

 rundines, in breeding but once in the summer, 

 andjn producing no more than two young one* 

 ?t a time. 



