COMMON SWIFT. 



73 



lays only two white, oblong eggs ; and during the 

 period of incubation, the male is continually flying 

 backwards and forwards, uttering a loud scream- 

 ing note, which is all it possesses : it is supposed 

 to return to the same nest, year after year: it 

 feeds on flies and other winged insects ; and as it 

 is apt to catch at any thing during flight, it may 

 be easily caught by tying an insect to a thread, 

 and letting it fly, when the Swift will most proba- 

 bly dart at and swallow it. Buffon observes, that 

 the boys in the isle of Zante will take five or six 

 dozen in a day, by getting on an elevated place, 

 and throwing up a hook baited with a feather. 



In very warm or sultry weather these birds re- 

 tire to their holes during the day, but in the morn- 

 ings and evenings they assemble together, and 

 play about amongst the most elevated trees or 

 towers in the neighbourhood, with the most varied 

 and amusing flight, uttering their screaming noise, 

 which most persons are not displeased with, as it 

 takes place only in the most serene settled weather: 

 at other times they are almost continually on 

 wing, even remaining so above eighteen hours; 

 but if they should accidentally fall upon a piece of 

 level groimd, they experience great difficulty in 

 rising, owing to the shortness of their legs, and 

 the great length of their wings. 



They are said to inhabit the greater part of the 

 old continent, even as far as the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and the most remote parts of Asia; but are 

 not found in any part of North America : travellers 

 who have mentioned its being observed there, 

 having mistaken the Purple Swallow for this bird. 



