2 Coward, Nesting Habits of the Palm Sivijt. 



of seven nests examined to-day, in three cases it was the male 

 incubating the eggs, and in the remaining four, females. There 

 is always more or less of a breeze here, and frequently a strong 

 wind, rising to a gale after sunset. As may be imagined, the 

 fronds are swaying up and down nearly all the time, and the 

 back of the brooding bird is often underneath. 



Young. — When hatched, the young cling tenaciously to the 

 feathery wall, and on my disturbing two, they actually lowered 

 themselves down, and as far as possible into, their old egg- 

 shells, which, of course, continued to occupy the cup-part of 

 the nest. The latter swarmed with bird-lice and several other 

 species of minute parasites. Two youngsters, which were in 

 the downy stage, could scarcely be distinguished from the 

 feathers which comprised the nest. 



Contents of Nest — 



1. Single egg, highly incubated. 



2. Two eggs, one incubated or bad, the other almost 



fresh. 



3. Two eggs, both highly incubated. 



4. One egg broken and bad, and one newly fledged 



bird. 



5. Two young birds only a couple of days old. 



6. Two downy young. 



7. Empty except for crushed eggshells, the young 



having flown. 



Though the palms bearing these nests were just outside the 

 hut occupied by my boy, on having them pointed out to him 

 he insisted they were the work of insects, and would not believe 

 them to be the work of birds till he saw the eggs. Certainly 

 at a little distance they appeared as a cobwebby mass. 



The bird, though of much the same colour as the English 

 swift {Cypselns apns), is considerably smaller, measuring 

 6 inches over all, about half of which is due to the long tail. 



Morogoro, 13/1/ 191 7. 



Arthur Loveridge." 



Palm Swifts of the genus Tachornis, occurring in Africa, 

 Southern Asia, and the West Indies, differ from the other Swifts 

 — Micro-pus, Aeronaiites, and Panyphilia — in having their toes 

 in pairs, " the outer and middle toe directed to the right, and 

 the inner and hind toe to the left." Hartert. (" Catal. of the 

 Ficarice in the Coll. of the Brit. Mns!' Birds, XVI., 1892, 462) 

 says : " No doubt this has some relation to their habits, and 

 probably to the manner in which they cling to the leaves of 

 palm trees, or to grass roofs of the Naga houses in Cacha and 

 Assam." It appears to me that it is more closely related to the 

 clinging to the nests when affixed to an unstable foundation. 



