Descriptive List of the Common Birds 



gold. Rump yellow, lower plumage yellow, 

 bright in male and duller in female. 



Winter visitor to N.W. and Central India. 



N.B. — None of the above buntings occur in Madras. 



7 he Sw allow Sy 86-90 



Swallows and martins form a well-marked 

 and familiar group of birds. The only other 

 family with which it is possible to confound 

 them is that of the swifts. Anatomically the 

 two famihes are far removed from one another ; 

 but similarity of profession has brought about 

 similarity in outward appearance. Neverthe- 

 less, the representatives of the two famihes 

 may be distinguished at a glance as they dash 

 through the air. " As a swallow darts along," 

 writes Eha, " its wings almost close against its 

 sides at every stroke, and it looks like a pair of 

 scissors opening and shutting. Now a swift 

 never closes its wings in this way. It whips 

 the air rapidly with the points of them, but 

 they are always extended and evenly curved 

 from tip to tip, like a bow, the sKm body of 

 the bird being the arrow." Jeiferies likens 

 a flying swift to an anchor with enormous 

 flukes. Another difference between the swifts 

 and the swallows is that the former never 

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