166 



BRANCH VERTEBRATA. 



FIG. 382. 



perpendicular surface, to which it clings with its sharp 

 claws and short spined tail. The Chimney-swallow, the 



only American species, while 

 on the wing, adroitly breaks 

 off twigs with its feet, and 

 fastens them to the chimney 

 with its tough, glue-like saliva 

 so strongly that the brick to 

 which the nest is attached 

 will sometimes yield before 

 the cement. 



The Trogons (trog'onz) of 

 the tropics are pre-eminent 

 for brilliancy of plumage * and 

 lengthening of the tail feath- 

 ers, which, in some species, 

 exceed the other feathers by 

 more than two feet.f 



form a gelatinous substance, highly esteemed by the 

 Chinese for making soup. The nests are taken down 

 three or four times per year from the caves to which 

 the birds are accustomed to resort, the old nests 

 being destroyed to compel the birds to build new 

 ones, which, when fresh and unused, bring their 

 weight in silver. The proprietors of a cave in Java 

 are said to receive 50,000 florins annu/illy for rent, 

 and 4,000,000 nests are yearly exported from the 

 coast of Cochin China. 



* The ancient Mexicans kept large aviaries of 

 these birds, both on account of their 

 beauty and their gorgeous plumes, which 

 were plucked at a certain season and 

 worked into mosaic images and pictures, 

 t They inhabit Mexico and Central 

 America (Guatemala having chosen this 

 bird for its national emblem), but only 



at the height of several thousand feet above the level of the sea. Its tones, not 

 altogether unmelodious, are said to be ventriloquistic, often deceiving the hunter 

 as to its distance from him. 



Calu'rus resplen'dens. Resplendent Calu- 

 rus. Male and Female. ( -fa.) 



