Life, by Lecky, in his Leaders of Public Opinion, by G. P. Moriarty, J. Churton Collins (1893), Max Simon (1893), Henriette Cordelet (1907) and Sophie Shilleto Smith (1910). The anecdotes of Swift related in Spence, Laetitia Pilkington, Wilson’s Swiftiana, Delany’s Autobiography, &c., though often amusing, can hardly be accepted as authentic.
The collective editions of Dr Hawkesworth (various issues, 1755–1779), T. Sheridan (1785), John Nichols (1801, 1804, 1808), Scott (1814 and 1821) and Roscoe (2 vols., 1849) have been in most respects superseded by the edition in Bohn’s Standard Library in fourteen volumes (including the two subsequently issued volumes of Poems) (1897–1910); arranged as follows: I. Biog. Introduction by W. E. H. Lecky; Tale of a Tub; Battle of the Books; Critical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind; The Bickerstaff Pamphlets, &c., ed. Temple Scott. II. Journal to Stella, ed. F. Ryland (two portraits of Stella). III. and IV. Writings on Religion and the Church, ed. Temple Scott. V. Historical and Political Tracts—English, ed. Temple Scott. VI. Historical and Political Tracts—Irish, ed. Temple Scott. VII. The Drapier’s Letters, ed. Temple Scott. VIII. and XI. Literary Essays, including Gulliver’s Travels (ed. G. R. Dennis); A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue; Hints towards an Essay on Conversation; Character; Directions to Servants; and Autobiographical Fragment, ed. Temple Scott. IX. Contributions to the Examiner, Tatler, Spectator, &c., ed. Temple Scott. X. Historical Writings, including the Four Last Years; Abstract of English History; and Remarks on Burnet, ed. Temple Scott. XII. Essays on the Portraits, &c., Bibliography by W. Spencer Jackson, and Index. Twelve portraits of Swift are included in the work, in addition to two portraits of Stella and one of Vanessa. XIII. and XIV. Poems, ed. W. Ernst Browning.
Translations and editions of Gulliver’s Travels have been numerous. “Valuable Notes for a Bibliography of Swift” were published by Dr S. Lane Poole in The Bibliographer (November 1884). (R. G.; T. Se.)
SWIFT, a bird so called from the extreme speed of its flight,
which apparently exceeds that of any other British species,
the Hirundo apus of Linnaeus and Cypselus apus or murarius
of modern ornithologists. Swifts were formerly associated
with swallows (q.v.) in classification, but whilst the latter
are true Passeres, it is now established that swifts are Coraciiform
birds (see Birds) and the sub-order Cypselus has been formed
to include them and their nearest allies, the humming-birds.
The four toes are all directed forwards, whereas in the Passeres
the hallux is directed backwards and by opposing the other
three makes the foot a grasping organ. In the swifts, moreover,
the middle and outer digits have only three joints and the
metatarsi and even the toes may be feathered. Swifts are
divided into three sub-families: Macropteryginae, the true
swifts, of tropical Asia, which form a nest gummed by saliva
to branches of trees; Chaeturinae, building in rocks or houses,
and with an almost world-wide range: it includes Chaetura
palagica, the “chimney-swallow” of the United States, Collocalia
fuciphaga wich obtained its specific name from the
erroneous idea that its edible nests were formed by partly
digested seaweed; Cypselinae, also world-wide and containing
Cypselus apus, the common European swift. All the swifts are
migratory. Well known as a summer visitor throughout the
greater part of Europe, the swift is one of the latest to return
from Africa, and its stay in the country of its birth is of the
shortest, for it generally disappears from England very early in
August, though occasionally to be seen for even two months
later.
The swift commonly chooses its nesting-place in holes under the eaves of buildings, but a crevice in the face of a quarry, or even a hollow tree, will serve it with the accommodation it requires. This, indeed, is not much, since every natural function except sleep, oviposition and incubation, is performed on the wing, and the easy evolutions of this bird in the air, where it remains for hours together, are the admiration of all who witness them. Though considerably larger than a swallow, it can be recognized at a distance less by its size than by its peculiar shape. The head scarcely projects from the anterior outline of the pointed wings, which form an almost continuous curve, at right angles to which extend the body and tail, resembling the handle of the crescentic cutting-knife used in several trades, while the wings represent the blade. The mode of flight of the two birds is also unlike, that of the swift being much more steady, and, rapid as it is, ordinarily free from jerks. The whole plumage, except a greyish white patch under the chin, is a sooty black, but glossy above. Though its actual breeding-places are by no means numerous, it extraordinary speed and discursive habits make the swift widely distributed; and throughout England scarcely a summer’s day passes without its being seen in most places. A larger species, C. melba or C. alpinus, with the lower part dusky white, which has its home in many of the mountainous parts of central and southern Europe, has several times been observed in Britain, and two examples of a species of a very distinct genus Chaetura, which has its home in northern Asia, but regularly emigrates thence to Australia, have been obtained in England (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1880, p. 1).
Among other peculiarities the swifts, as long ago described (probably from John Hunter’s notes) by Sir E. Home (Phil. Trans. 1817, pp. 332 et seq., pl. xvi.), are remarkable for the development of their salivary glands, the secretions of which serve in most species to glue together the materials of which the nests are composed, and in the species of the genus Collocalia form almost the whole substance of the structure. These are the “edible” nests so eagerly sought by Chinese epicures as an ingredient for soup. These remarkable nests consist essentially of mucus, secreted by the salivary glands above mentioned, which dries and looks like isinglass. Their marketable value depends upon their colour and purity, for they are often intermixed with feathers and other foreign substances. The swifts that construct these “edible” nests form a genus Collocalia, with many species; but they inhabit chiefly the islands of the Indian Ocean from the north of Madagascar eastward, as well as many of the tropical islands of the Pacific so far as the Marquesas—one species occurring in the hill-country of India. They breed in caves, to which they resort in great numbers, and occupy them jointly and yet alternately with bats—the mammals being the lodgers by day and the birds by night. (A. N.)
SWIMMING (from “swim,” A.S. swimman, the root being
common in Teutonic languages), the action of self-support and
self-propulsion on or in water; though used by analogy of
inanimate objects, the term is generally connected with animal
progression and specially with the art of self-propulsion on
water as practised by man. Natation (the synonym derived
from Lat. natare) is one of the most useful of the physical
acquirements of man. There have been cases in which beginners
have demonstrated some ability in the art upon their first
immersion in deep water, but generally speaking it is an art
which has to be acquired. For many years Great Britain held
the supremacy in this particular form of athletics, but continental,
Australian and American swimmers have so much
improved and have developed such speedy strokes, that the
claim can no longer be maintained. English swimmers have,
however, the satisfaction of knowing that in a great measure
through them has come about the very great interest which is
now taken in the teaching of swimming throughout the world,
and more particularly on the continent of Europe, where they
have made frequent tours and given instructive displays of
swimming, life-saving (see Drowning), and water polo (q.v.);
the latter a water game entirely British in its origin.
The teaching of swimming has been taken up in schools, and where the work is well done it is customary to use a form of land drill so as to impress upon the pupils some idea of the motions which have to be made in order to progress through the water. This drill is the preliminary practice to the teaching of the breast stroke. This stroke is about the most useful of all the known forms of swimming, more particularly when any one is thrown overboard in clothes; and though speed swimmers look upon it as obsolete, it is undoubtedly the best for a long-distance swim, such as across the English Channel, or other similar feats. A knowledge of it, as well as of the back stroke, is essential to the effective saving of life.
When learning the breast stroke, the first thing to avoid is undue haste and rapidity in the movements. It is this fault, probably born of nervousness, which causes many to aver that though eager to do so, they have never been able to learn to swim. Rapid action of the arms only exhausts the learner, whose breathing then becomes hurried and irregular, and as a consequence he fails to preserve the buoyancy necessary for carrying him along the surface. When starting for the first stroke the beginner should draw the elbows nearly to the side, at the same
