6o 



FASSERES. 



skim the surface of lakes and rivers in pursuit of their food, which 

 consists entirely of insects. They usually rest and pass the night 

 in a hole in some high building or lofty tree, and in such places 

 they also rear their young. Their nest is composed of straw and 

 similar materials, cemented together with a glutinous secretion, 

 furnished by certain glands that are peculiar to birds of this sub- 

 family. The eggs are usually two in number. 





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Fig. 30.— The Swift {Cypselus n/>!ii). 



The Common Swift {Cypselus* apus) usually arrives in Europe about the 

 beginning of May. It leaves us again generally about the middle of August, 

 so that its stay in Britain hardly exceeds three months. On the continent of 

 Africa these birds are seen as far south as the Cape of Good Hope, but their 

 proper winter residence appears to be between the tropics. Their migratory 

 instincts are truly wonderful. They will often return alter an absence of eight 

 or nine months and a voyage of several thousand miles to the very same spot 

 where they built their nests and reared their young the year before. On its 

 arrival, the swift takes up its abode in holes and other sheltered places, in 

 church steeples, towers, ruins, or under the eaves of houses. From these nooks 

 and corners it dashes forth in fine weather to wheel about in the air with 

 amazing rapidity in pursuit of insects, accompanying its headlong flight with 

 loud screaming cries; but when the day is unfavourable, and especially when 

 there is a high wind, the swifts, notwithstanding their power of wing, usually 

 keep close within their snug retreats. 



The voice of the swift is not very pleasing. " He has no roundelay ; he 



KiJi/'eXoy, kupselos, the sand-mar iin. 



