52 
NATURE NOTES. 
careful now how I handle a Swift. Much the best way is to 
press the back of the bent forefinger between the bird’s wings 
and hold them against it with the thumb and second finger as 
close to the body as possible. Held in this way the bird cannot 
struggle and is not uncomfortable. But beware not to put a 
finger within reach of those small claws. 
The Swift being designed for speed and endurance and life 
in the air, carries nothing superfluous. Its beak is a mere point 
to its head to cut the air, useful also to the female in feeding the 
young. Its feet are very small and the legs very short. It has 
nothing in the way of structural ornament, such as a crest. It 
is long and fish-like in shape, and its tail is the very perfection 
of a working tail — not meant for show like a cuckoo’s or even a 
swallow’s — -just long enough to secure all the advantages of a 
long powerful tail and short enough to be handy in a high wind. 
The Swift is the most aerial of all our birds; it spends quite 
as much time on the wing as Gilbert White sa) T s it does, and 
more. In its ordinary flight the wings seem to beat simply up 
and down from the body without any bend at the pinion joint ; 
that is they are always held out at right angles to the body, and 
not doubled back like a Swallow’s with the quill feathers parallel 
to those of the tail. It is this stiffness of wing, combined with 
their great length, which gives the Swift its striking form in the 
air like a half-bent bow, and distinguishes it so markedly from 
the other members of its tribe. When the bird is flying straight, 
the tail is folded and just shows the two points. When it turns 
it simply tilts itself with the wing down on the side to which it 
is turning. The least raising of the head or tail would take it 
round then, but this is not perceptible in the fast flight of the 
Swift. 
It is when the bird is hawking for flies that the use of the 
tail becomes apparent. The bird has to twist and turn now 
on one side now on another, up and down. The tail can be 
depressed so as to be at right angles to the body, it can be 
opened until the light appears between each feather, and the 
two outside ones are almost in a line, and one half can be 
spread and depressed without the other. When screaming in 
chorus, the Swift does not think about food. It is not often 
that one can hear the “ nip ” as the Swift takes a fly which is 
so perceptible in the case of the Swallow and Flycatcher, except 
indeed, on the banks of the stream when the impact of a Caddow 
and Swift is audible enough ; still, I have heard the sound on a 
calm evening near the church. 
Only the females feed the young. I have often been able to 
distinguish them in flight by the distension made by the flies 
packed away under their tongues. I have caught several (for 
measuring and weighing) with a landing-net, as they stooped 
for their nests, but could not rob them of their young ones’ 
food. 
The speed with which they dart straight into their narrow 
