1 66 



THE MUSEUM. 



: south. As about a month or more 

 would have elapsed, after their return, 

 before the young would have hatched, 

 the layer of excrement would be in- 

 creasing, and the young, by the first 

 or middle of June, would have become 

 well grown, and as in all young birds, 

 would soon be trying their wings. 



Now the tree is, of course, dark in- 

 side, the birvJs gaining access through 

 some large hole near the top of the 

 tree. The nests, being attached to the 

 inside' of the remaining shell of the 

 tree would, evidently, all have their 

 brims in the shape of a semi-circle, 

 facing the opposite side. When the 

 young birds have sat on the edge of 

 the nest for a day or so, according to 

 custom, they would naturally give a 

 jump, and spreading their wings, in 

 many cases, fly bump! into the oppo- 

 site side of the tree, for a young bird 

 cannot, at first fly 7ip, but on an in- 

 clined plane, doiun. Let us follow 

 one of these birds. Stunned by this 

 sudden end of his journey, the brd 

 would fall at once to the bottom of 

 the tree, perpendicularly, and this ad 

 ditional fall, and the gases arising 

 from the excrements, would be enough 

 to kill an ordinary young bird and es- 

 pecially so as the collision with the 

 tree would crush his skull, being in 

 the young bird very soft. Here then 

 is the unfortunate nestling, lying dead 

 or dying, with its head pointing in 

 very nearly the same direction as 

 when it flew from the nest (a) against 

 the opposite wall (b) that is "with the 

 quills pointing out and the plumes 

 pointing toward the center" as shown 

 in the drawing representing a half 

 section of the tree. It would thus be 

 seen that it would be more difficult 





C.C&. 



for the bird to land in another position 

 than that just described, (c) 



Here then we have accounted for 

 the arrangement of the feathers. 

 Now after the bird dies, decomposition 

 quickly sets ie. In young animals of 

 all sorts the bones are composed in a 

 great part of animal matter, which by 

 this time in our Swift, would have 

 assumed the character of very stiff, 

 tough, cartilaginous strings with 

 points or centres of ossification 

 formed. Thus the bones would also 

 rot, though undoubtedly taking a 

 longer time than the flesh, and what 

 lime there might be in them, at the 

 most, would be a network of fine 

 strings, as it were, which would easily 

 fall away, aided by the pressure of 

 accumulations from above, and be re- 

 duced to a powder. The beaks and 

 claws, being even in the old birds soft 



