SWIFTS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."' SIR,—Your• remarks about swifts remind me how often, during the past eleven years that I have been here, the accuracy of Gilbert White's notes about them has struck me. We have hundreds of them here, the roof of the nave of our old Norman church being full of their nests. I did not see one after August 12th this season, and every year, by August 10th at latest, all but a few have left; and the few that remain fly furtively about as if they had no business to be left behind,— the difference in their flight is most noticeable. To me the great unsolved mystery about them is, how do they build their nests ? I can come to no other conclusion than that they use the materials of the sparrows' nests, with which our roofs abound. They certainly have nests of their own, but never have I seen a swift carrying in any materials,—they cannot get up again if they alight on the ground, for I have found old ones helpless on the ground, which flew away vigorously as soon as you threw them up. Their claws, by-the-way, are not a pleasant experience. During the restoration of the nave of our church in May and June, 1880, it was curious to note how fearlessly they flew in and out among the workmen working on the walls. One of the workmen tied small pieces of red wool to the legs of several which were caught : these pieces of red were seen on the birds the following year. In the July of 1880, we had to disestablish some seventy nests, and most sorry was I that we had to do so ; but the contractor could not wait the birds' convenience. We found eggs, callow birds, and some ready to fly,—two birds or two eggs in each nest, never more. It was in that year that I saw swifts later than I ever saw before or since—viz., on August 25th—and I put down their presence then to the fact that some bred a second time after our disturbing them in July.—I am, Sir, &c., Overmonnow Vicarage, Monmouth, Sept. 8. P. POTTER.
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