258 
THE NATURAL HISTORY 
[LETT. 
LETTEK XCVr. 
TO THE HONOURABLE HAINES BARRINGTON. 
I HAVE just met witli a circumstance respecting swifts wliicli 
furnishes an exception to the whole tenor of my observations 
ever since 1 have bestowed any attention on that species of 
hirundincs. Our swifts, in general, withdrew this year about 
the first day of August, all save one pair, which in two or three 
days was reduced to a single bird. The perseverance of this in- 
dividual made me suspect that the strongest of motives, that of 
an attachment to her young, could alone occasion so late a stay. 
I watched therefore till the 24th of August, and then discovered 
that under the eaves of the church she attended upon two young, 
which were fledged, and now put out their white chins from 
a crevice. These remained till the 27th, looking more alert 
every day, and seeming to long to be on the wing. After 
tliis day they were missing at once ; nor could I ever observe 
them with their dam coursing round the church in the act of 
learning to fly, as the first broods evidently do. On the 31st 
I caused the eaves to be searched; but we found in the nest 
only two callow, dead, stinking swifts, on which a second nest 
had been formed. This double nest was full of the black shining 
cases of the Hippohoscce liirundinis. 
The following remarks on this unusual incident are obvious. 
The first is, that though it may be disagreeable to swifts to 
remain beyond the beginning of August, yet that they can sub- 
sist longer is undeniable. The second is, that this uncommon 
event, as it was owing to the loss of the first brood, so it corro- 
borates my former remark, that swifts breed regularly but once ; 
since, was the contrary the case, the occurrence above could 
neither be new nor rare. 
P.S. — One swift was seen at Lyndon, in the county of Eutland, 
in 1780, so late as the 3rd of September. 
Helborne, >SV|>f. 9, 1781. 
