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beautiful brown-grey color, closely 

 penciled and barred, the Nightjar is a 

 handsome bird. Like the Swift it 

 has an enormous mouth and long 

 graceful wings." 



Family, Micropodidae, The Swifts. 



Swifts are small, compactly- 

 feathered, pre-eminently aerial birds, 

 with very long pointed wings in which 

 there are ten primaries, and always 

 less than nine secondaries. The tarsus 

 is extremely short and the feet weak. 

 The bill is short, somewhat curved, 

 broad at the base, with a very wide 

 gape. Swifts take their food of insects 

 entirely on the wing, and possess 

 unrivalled powers of flight. 



Chaetura caudacuta (Lath), Spine- 

 tailed Swift, and 



Apus pacificus (Lath), Large White- 

 rumped Swift, pass the Yangtse 

 Valley on migration. 



Family Picidae, Woodpeckers. 



The species represented in the 

 Yangtse Valley have four toes, two in 

 front and two behind ; the bill is very 

 strong, straight, and chisel-like ; the 

 tail feathers are stiff and pointed, except 

 in two species in China ; the nostrils 

 are concealed by bristles. 



They are small or medium sized 

 birds with strong legs and feet. The 

 peculiar structure of the feet enables 

 them to cling to the trunk or limbs of 

 a tree, while the stiff pointed tail 

 serves as a prop when resting. The 

 heavy, sharp bill is used to cut away 

 wood and expose grubs and other in- 

 sects which form their food. These 

 they impale on the spear-like tip of 

 their long distensible tongue and draw 



