THE SWIFTS. 145 
much smaller bird, being more slender, with a fairly long 
and well-forked tail; in. colour it is drab, without any 
conspicuous markings. 
It is found over a large part of India and in Ceylon, 
wherever the fan-or toddy-palm grows; it attaches its 
nest to the underside of the fronds of this tree, and does 
not stray far from it; for a Swift it is not at all a rapid 
flyer. 
The nest is a small pocket, lodged in a furrow of the 
leaf, and made of vegetable fluff or small feathers stuck 
together with saliva. The bird occasionally makes use 
of the betel-nut palm, and is believed to breed twice in the 
year. In Northern India the times for breeding are 
March and July, but in Ceylon from October to April. 
Like the House-Swift, the Palm-Swift usually lays three 
eggs. Hast of India, throughout Burma to Java, is found 
another species of Palm-Swift (Zachornis infumatus) 
which is much darker, nearly black above, in fact. It has 
the same habits as the Indian bird, but in the Naga and 
Garo Hills frequents native huts, these being thatched 
with palm-leaves, to which the bird attaches its nest just 
as if they were on the tree. 
THE NIGHTJARS. 
These birds, often called Goatsuckers from an absurd 
superstition which was current even among the ancient 
Greeks and Romans, are easily distinguished from any 
others. They are birds of fair apparent size, but really 
very small and light in body, with large flat heads, long 
wings, and fairly long tails. Their beaks are very small 
F, GAB 10 
