e of itself and its progeny. Immea-

of insects for the sustenanc His)
as it feeds exclusively on

ct life destroyed by this bird; and

than if they formed even a part of
f the bird’s economy, made

1 iet 1 ir larva state -anscribe a note

ts diet in their larva state. I transcr! : . | see

| Maidenhead and its neighbourhood .—“ June 28. Took two ony young

or five days previously 5 they were round, black, heavy-bodied nest-

; but half open; no dilatation of

the duties of reproduction and the capture
surably great indeed must be the amount of inse ee
perfect insects, it becomes a greater check to their undue preponder nies
as illustrative of this part o
during my annual summer visit to
Swifts, apparently hatched about four
lings, without feathers ; their eyelids w
the gape, as in the Swallows and Tits (Hirundinde,
July 8. Took from a neighbouring nest two youns
ntire body and tarsi were covered with dark-grey
ig and tail-feathers were much developed. July 12. Took
age of these were greatly advanced over those last
. fect feathers, resembling in colour

ere much contracted, and their eyes
Paride) and many other young birds; weight, ee
Swifts, considerably advanced in
eee 7 e oa down; stub-feathers were ap-
size and plumage; the e
pearing on the crown of the head, and the wi
two other neighbouring Swifts. The size and plum

the whole of the head and body was covered with per cy
eloped, and the birds would have flown in four or

ame time, as they probably

mnentioned ;
those of the adult; the wings were considerably dev
Now if all these were hatched about the s
Swift Te » ~)
were, what a vast amount of insect life must have been taken by each young Swift petwiesy mt
i ‘tnight alone y - birds had increased in weight Irom
of June and the 12th of July! In this fortnight alone the young birds he 7 ;
three-quarters of an ounce to two ounces ; and, bearing in mind that the adults as well as the young
e of the amount of insects destroyed by
sundown, and even later, the Swift

2 ees .2)
five days; weight two ounces.

have to be sustained, we may form something like an estimat
these birds during the summer months. From the earliest dawn to
through which its yarious journeys must, at the most moderate com-
eposes for short intervals during the heat

is constantly hawking in the ar,
putation, amount to many hundreds of miles a day. It probably r me
of the midday sun; but the time thus lost is made up by later evolutions in the evening, when ae males
scream and chase each other from place to place, at one moment over water or a lofty church spire, at the
next over the tops of houses, darting, circling, and joyously pursuing and rivalling oe other in the number
and rapidity of their evolutions. When feeding their young, the parent birds dash into ao dark recesses
with the quickness of thought, going in and returning a hundred, nay, many hundred times a day. The
structure of its tarsi and feet quite unfits the Swift for moving on the ground, whence its specific name of
apus (footless), and, ‘f once on a level surface, I question if it has the power of again rising in the air; but
any slight inequality in the soil would enable the bird to effect its purpose. When roosting, or resting from
the midday heat, the Swift retires to some lofty steeple or a more humble cottage roof, to the walls of
which it clings with its curiously formed toes and hooked nails. From such places of rest, and on leaving
the nest, it drops into the air, and, with a few strokes of its powerful wings, sweeps away with the utmost
ease and grace.
That an individual pair annually return for many years to the same site is certain, marked birds having
proved this fact over and over again. And wonderful, indeed, is the instinct which directs this bird to
return repeatedly to the same breeding-place. Going to and fro is the province of the Swift: in winter it
flies over African soil; in summer it dwells in the more invigorating climate of England and the continent of
Europe, which latter countries may be considered its native home, for it is there that it procreates its kind.
The sites chosen for the purpose of nidification are much varied, cathedral spires, lofty towers, crevices
in rocks, and the holes in lofty trees being alike resorted to; the eaves of church-roofs and the houses
of the humble villagers are also much frequented by it; and the poorer the cottage, the more it ap-
pears to be preferred. The space between the rafters and the roof, to which admittance is gained by
a broken tile or any interstice through which the bird can squeeze its lengthened body, is a situation
for which it evinces a decided preference. Within such openings as these in the roof of the humble tene-
ment, the Swift either constructs its own shallow, saucer-like nest of the straws, feathers, and other materials
caught while floating in the air on a windy day, or appropriates those collected by the common Sparrow ;
whichever course is pursued, these light materials are agglutinated together with a viscous substance
secreted by the salivary glands of the bird. I have even found fresh petals of the yellow buttercup
(Ranunculus bulbosus) glued on the inner side of the walls, which the Swift must have taken while skimming
over the mead. This thin crust of a nest is often placed near the entrance, but sometimes on a alter
under the ceiling, at the distance of a yard from the inlet. The eggs are of an oblong form, about an inch
in length, and of a pinkish white; two is the normal number, but I have heard of three, and even four,
being occasionally found im one nest.
he males and females ATE:SO closely alike in size and colour that, to be quite certain of the sex of any
individual that may be shot, dissection must be resorted to. The young soon assume a plumage very like
that of the adults the only difference being that they have more white about the face, and that some of the
darker feathers of the body are very narrowly fringed with grey.
ek a ea ee a aa on the eu. is very dark brown, glossed
t 5 ack ; toes and claws blackish brown.