Are they regulated in their
motions with us by a failure of food, or by a propensity to
moulting, or by a disposition to rest after so rapid a life, or by
what? This is one of those incidents in natural history that not only
baffles our searches, but almost eludes our guesses!
These hirundines never perch on trees or roofs, and so never
congregate with their congeners. They are fearless while haunting
their nesting places, and are not to be scared with a gun; and are
often beaten down with poles and cudgels as they stoop to go under
the eaves. Swifts are much infested with those pests to the genus
called hippoboscae hirundinis; and often wriggle and scratch
themselves, in their flight, to get rid of that clinging annoyance.
Swifts are no songsters, and have only one harsh screaming note;
yet there are ears to which it is not displeasing, from an agreeable
association of ideas, since that note never occurs but in the most
lovely summer weather.
They never settle on the ground but through accident; and when
down can hardly rise, on account of the shortness of their legs and
the length of their wings: neither can they walk, but only crawl; but
they have a strong grasp with their feet, by which they cling to
walls.
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