BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE isi 
shire the Tree-Pipit is commonly miscalled the Wood- 
Liark.l 
THE SWIFT. Cypsdus apus (Linn«us). 
Local name — Black Switt. 
" y!?" voice is mute as her young beein to flee 
And seek with swifts and martins some home LyZd the sea • 
^d reapers crowd to harvest field in man's and Sen's pride' 
How exquisite the golden hours on bonny Nithside " ^ ' 
Dumlnes and Galloway Courier and Herald, January 25th, 1899- 
Unpubhshed Verses by John McDiarmid." 
A common summer-visitant, nesting locally in suitable situations. 
In 1791 it was said that the Swift " arrives about the com- 
mencement of continued dayUght {i.e., here, about the tenth 
ot May), and departs about the end of it, in the second 
week of August."* In its comings and goings this species 
vanes very httle, and May 9th and August 6th may beLen 
uZ.l ^^"'T f^*^ °^ ™^ ^""^ departure, though 
birds from the far north may be seen passing through 
later m August. The earliest date of their arrival that I 
have found recorded is May 3rd, in 1829, and in 1891 ; 
and the latest, May 12th, in 1892 : as regards their 
fnZr' M ^^"^ "PP^^^ ^ Aust 15th, 
in 1896 Mi R. Service writes me that on July 5th, 1908 
he saw two flocks, one of fifteen and the other of over two 
hundred, at Southemess (Kirkcudbright), "flying out to 
arhesfd ' '^^""^ °" The 
earliest date I ever saw emigrants of the species." 
«nH ci^'^^T ^■^'^''^ """^^ °* bi'ds of Applegarth 
Sin . ^ ''^ '"^^ ""'"^'^^^ °f the S^ft have 
d^m mshed much since the old mansion-house of Jardine 
5 SwTft! K i! P''^'°"' ^^^^^ous colonies 
of Swifts built m the rents of the walls. Now a few pairs 
* Stat. Acct. Scot., Vol. I., p. 61. 
