The Swedes have bestowed a very pertinent name on this swallow,
calling it ring swala, form the perpetual rings or circles that it takes
round the scene of its nidification.
Swifts feed on coleoptera, or small beetles with hard cases over
their wings, as well as on the softer insects; but it does not appear
how they can procure gravel to grind their food, as swallows do,
since they never settle on the ground. Young ones, over-run with
hippoboscae, are sometimes found, under their nests, fallen to the
ground: the number of vermin rendering their abode insupportable
any longer. They frequent in this village several abject cottages: yet
a succession still haunts the same unlikely roofs: a good proof this
that the same birds return to the same spots. As they must stoop
very low to get up under these humble eaves, cats lie in wait, and
sometimes catch them on the wing.
On the fifth of July, 1775, I again untiled part of a roof over the
nest of a swift. The dam sat in the nest; but so strongly was she
affected by natural storge (in Greek) for her brood, which she
supposed to be in danger, that, regardless of her own safety, she
would not stir, but lay sullenly by them, permitting herself to be
taken in hand.
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