Its an odd bird, the swift. It covers a million kilometres a year, sleeps on the wing, and because if its tremendous speed, it knows no predators. Apart from men with guns, swifts have nothing to fear between heaven and earth. More, they eat, copulate on the wing and get their drinking water by scooping it up on the wing, rather than land to drink. If they did, they could not rise by their own efforts. Some kindly human might launch them into the air again. Their legs are more than weak. There is an aeroplane, the Canadair, which is used to put out forest fires; for example, on the Mediterranean. This plane dives down to sea level, and without stopping, scoops up the seawater to put out the flames. The swift may have been its inspiration.
They are birds of the air as no other species. One of the books describes them as "the most aerial of all birds", superficially resembling swallows and martens. The bird is easily told from the swallow tribe by its short tail and long curved wings, as well as by all dark brown plumage, apart from whitish throat. One book writes of its vigorous dashing flight, wheeling and gliding, and in excited parties, it says, they chase each other around villages and towns. It feeds - on flies and spiders - over fresh water, open country and even in built-in areas. It nests in holes or crevices of natural cliffs or buildings. The nest is glued together with their voluminous saliva. The eggs may be two or perhaps three. Interesting is that when they have young, the birds may have to fly for 100 kilometres, according to Michel Braudeau, writing in Le Monde to bring back food. And eggs and young can resist heat and cold in the meantime, and the young, he says, can survive the lack of food by going into a state of suspension, if that's the word.
The swift lives on flies etc. and so is one of the last arrivals of the migrators. It follows the insect trail from Africa to the Arctic. The most mysterious and hard thing to get into your head is the fact that the bird sleeps on the wing. It flies up to a height of 8,000 metres, writes M. Braudeau, if necessary, after its prey, and gliding high up can still keep one eye open and doze off. On the nest, presumably the females may doze, or the male when he relieves her. Hardest to believe, but apparently true, the bird can glide and snooze. Watch out for them. Blunter tails than swallows, less black or blue than brown.