The Swift comes to Hungary early in May and leaves again the first days of August. In England it comes and leaves about the end of these months, that is as soon as the young are ready to fly. The materials for the nest are obtained on the wing, therefore often with difficulty, as the wind brings it. These are glued together by the viscous secretions of the bird. Sometimes, however, it robs Martins, House-Sparrows and Starlings of their homes. The wild note of see-see has gained for the Swifts the name of “Screechers,” and “Devilings” in Great Britain. They always hunt in companies and one might say that they compass the wide world in their rapid and powerful flight. The feet which are so helpless on the ground are well adapted to clinging on to the rocks and heights where they breed. The work Swifts do in clearing the air of insects must be enormous, these forming all their food.
This is one of the most interesting of our British birds, and one that is still an unknown quantity, in some respects, to the most learned of our ornithologists. “It soars on higher wing” even than the Skylark. A larger bird, it rises until it is lost to the keenest sight, remaining in the air longer, also, than perhaps any other bird. Whether it is capable of rising from the ground, when once there, is, curiously enough, still a matter of dispute among certain naturalists. “Can Swifts take wing from the ground?” was a question raised not long ago in “Nature Notes,” the organ of the Selborne Society.
Over two centuries ago Dr. Plot wrote of the Swift, “ ... it having so very long wings, and so short legs and small feet, that it cannot easily rise from the ground unless it be very plain and free from grass; wherefore it either always flies or sits on the tops of churches, towers, or else hangs on other ancient buildings by its sharp claws, from which it falls and so takes its flight.” It would appear from old records to be very much commoner now in our country than it was; and several recent accounts attest to its trick of exploring the old nesting-hole of a Starling. Mr. Yates, of Staffordshire, and Mr. Carr-Ellison, of Alnwick, both give interesting facts in corroboration of this proclivity. In an Eccleshall street Mr. Yates saw a Swift enter a hole where it had been in the habit of nesting, but it quickly emerged with a Starling fast to its tail. So weighted, the unlucky Swift soon came to the ground and to grief, but it was rescued and was started on its flight again. The Alnwick naturalist, again, saw a Starling pecking at a grounded Swift, and drove the former away. The Starling then flew on to an apple espalier close by, and watched the Swift, which tried to fly along the slightly sloping walk, but it could not get its wings clear of the ground. Its friend lifted and threw it up in the air. Three times this gentleman has witnessed the same scene at long intervals. The reason of it is that he had had a hole made near his study window for nesting purposes. Starlings always build in this in April or early in May, and after they have left Swifts build in the same hole. Sometimes they attempt this too soon; one comes to explore the hole, and gets caught by a returning Starling who at once pulls it to the ground below, where it is pecked whenever it tries to move. The Swift never alights on the ground of its own free will; about eighty of these birds, which were picked up dead on a peninsula where I once sojourned, had dropped, exhausted by violent storms encountered on the migratory flight, and there for want of food and help they had perished.
It is a delight to watch the evolutions of a Swift on a clear evening; with a grand, falcon-like stooping, the cock-bird begins to drive its mate back to her nest; at least, such is supposed to be its intention. The males first rise high in the air, and then make the swoop, and there is much evading by the females, and renewed pursuit, after which the males come back alone to enjoy themselves whilst their mates sit quietly on their nests.
The Swift, which used to be classed with Swallows, is now placed in the same order as the Fern Owl or Goatsucker, being, it is decided by scientific authorities, more allied to the latter in its structural affinity than to the Swallow. Its general colour is a bronzed blackish-brown; the throat is a greyish-white; the bill, claws and toes are black. The young birds have more white about the throat than the adults. The tail is forked, the wings are long and narrow, formed like a sickle. The eggs are generally only two in number, oval in shape and dead white, whereas the Swallows and the Martins lay four to six eggs each. Also the Swift has only one brood in the season, instead of two.
USEFUL.
