HIRUNDINID.l^. 79 



cliildren would make if unexpectedly released from 

 school, furnished with wings, and flung up into the air 

 for a game at hide-and-seek among the clouds. Such 

 soarings aloft, such chasings round the pinnacles of the 

 church-tower and the gables of the farm-houses ; no 

 wonder that they cannot contain themselves for joy." * 

 The food of these birds consists entirely of insects, which 

 they capture and devour on the wing. They do not at 

 once gulp down their prey, but, as it usually consists of 

 gnats, midges, and other compressible species, they collect 

 a nuniber in their mouths before swallowing them. The 

 insects caught for the nourishment of their young are 

 stored up in the same way. 



, Their nest is composed of fragments of straw, dry grass, 

 and bits of rag, with a few feathers, and these materials 

 are cemented together by means of their glutinous saliva. 

 The eggs are usually two in number, but vary from two 

 to four. The young are hatched about the end of June, 

 and do not leave the nest till the end of July; during 

 all this period the 2:)arents feed them with great care. 

 After the young bii^ls have come out they are left to 

 provide for themselves, which they are well able to do, 

 and in the course of a short time are strong enough to 

 commence their long journey into unknown regions. 

 The type of this sub-family — 



The Alpine Swift {Cypselus Melha) can scarcely be 

 called a British species, although it has been occasionally 

 killed in this country. Its true home is in the Swiss 

 Alps and other mountain-ranges in the South of Europe. 

 Its flight is more rapid than that of the Common Swift. 

 These birds, indeed, may be said to perform all the 

 functions of life on the wing, except sleeping and incuba- 

 tion ; and even when they rest, it is against the perpen- 

 dicular face of a rock or wall, to which their four toes, 

 all ]:>ointing forwards, enable them to cling. 



From the earliest dawn to sundown, and even later, 

 this Swift is constantly hawking in the air, through 

 which its various journeys must, at the most moderate 

 computation, amount to many hundreds of miles in a day. 



* See •' British Birds and their Haunts," by the Eev. C. A. Johns. 



