50 
NATURE NOTES. 
less, into which that labour might be directed, but upon these it 
would be out of place to enlarge in such a magazine as this.* 
And, lastly, though it would be vain to hope that this portion 
of rural Middlesex, which fixes a gulf of fields, lanes, and woods 
between London and Harrow will never be bridged over by con- 
tinuous rows of houses, we can only trust that, ere such happens, 
either through the agency of munificent individuals or through 
the energy of such bodies as the London or Middlesex County 
Council,! or the City Corporation, some very considerable 
portion of this district may be secured for perpetual public 
enjoyment. 
Archibald Clarke. 
THE ORLETON SWIFTS. 
(a letter to the right honble. the earl of selborne.) 
(' Continued from p. 30.) 
HE Swift is a dark greenish glossy brown in colour — 
not black. The sole ornament or recognition mark 
is the white chin. This bit of contrasting colour, 
small though it is, may be useful to them. I have 
several times hung round a Swift’s neck a bit of calico in the 
shape of a bib, and this has always attracted the attention 
of the other Swifts, though not large enough to be conspicuous. 
So they are quick enough in noticing any difference in the 
appearance of their companions. 
I have not been able to detect any such fading or bleaching of 
the colour of Swifts during the time of their stay here as Gilbert 
White notices, though I have had them in my hands early and 
late in the season. The other day I was looking at a full-fledged 
young one due to fly on the morrow. It was a beautiful bird. 
The same colour as its mother — no darker — but its chin a purer 
white, which extended to the feathers round the upper mandible 
of the beak. The wing feathers were edged with light which 
gave them a beautiful appearance, the legs and feet were pink 
and not black as in the old ones, and the wings were somewhat 
shorter. 
The average weight of a Swift is i| oz. as near as may be. 
From tip to tip of wing it measures 15! inches, and from tip of 
beak to end of tail yk inches with its neck in the natural position, 
that is in a loop with the bend underneath ; for the Swift carries 
* Since writing the above, it has become public knowledge (see Daily News, 
February 19) that a company for the promotion of the whole undertaking is to 
be set on foot, probably next May. We would earnestly appeal to Selbornians 
to have nothing to do with its organisation. • 
t The good work of the Open Spaces Committee of the L. C. C. in recently 
securing the pine woods at Bostall Ileath, near Woolwich, is doubtless known to 
most readers of Nature Notes. 
