July 1, 1774
Swifts, I have just discovered, lay but two eggs. They have now naked squab young, & some near half-fledged: so that their broods cannot be out ’til toward the middle or end of July, & therefor can never breed again before the 20th of August. In laying but two eggs, & breeding but once they differ from all our other hirundines. Scarabaeus solstitialis. The appearance of this insect commences with this month, & ceases at the end of it. These scarabs are the constant food of caprimulgi the month thro’.
* When Oaks are quite stripped of their leaves by cahfers, they are cloathed again soon after mid-summer with a beatiful foliage: but beeches, horse-chest-nuts, & maples, once defaced by those insects, never recover their beauty again for the whole season.
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