SWALLOWS. 6 1 



neither warbles nor carols; he does not even twitter. His whole melody is a 

 scream, unmusical, but most joyous; a squeak would be a better name, but 

 that, instead of conveying a notion that it results from pain, it is full of rollick- 

 ing delight. Some compare it to the noise made by the sharpening of a saw; 

 to me it seems such an expression of pent-up joy as little children would make 

 if unexpectedly released from school, furnished with wings, and flung up into 

 the air for a game at hide-and-seek among the clouds. Such soarings aloft, 

 such chasings round the pinnacles of the church tower and the gables of the 

 farm-houses ! no wonder that they cannot contain themselves for joy." * The 

 food of these birds consists entirely of insects, which they capture and devour 

 on the wing. They do not at once gulp down their prey, but, as it usually 

 consists of gnats, midges, and other compressible species, they collect a number 

 in their mouths before swallowing them. The insects caught for the nourish- 

 ment of their young are stored up in the same way. 



Their nest is composed of fragments of straw, dry grass, and bits of rag, 

 with a few feathers, and these materials are cemented together by means of 

 their glutinous saliva. The eggs are usually two in number, but vary from 

 two to four. The young are hatched about the end of June, and do not leave 

 the nest till the end of July ; during all this period the parents feed them with 

 great care. After the young birds have come out they are left to provide for 

 themselves, which they are well able to do, and in the course of a short time 

 are strong enough to commence their long journey into unknown regions. 



The type of this sub-family — 



The Alpine Swift {Cypsdus melba) can scarcely be called a British species, 

 although it has been occasionally killed in this country. Its true home is in 

 the Swiss Alps and other mountain ranges in the south of Europe. Its flight 

 is more rapid than that of the common swift. These birds, indeed, may be 

 said to perform all the functions of life on the wing, except sleeping and incu- 

 bation ; and even when they rest, it is against the perpendicular face of a rock 

 or wall, to which their four toes, all pointing forwards, enable them to cling. 



From the earliest dawn to sundown, and even later, this swift is constantly 

 hawking in the air, through which its various journeys must, at the most 

 moderate computation, amount to many hundreds of miles in a day. 



Sub-Family II. 

 THE SWALLOWS PROPER. HIRUNDININ.^. 



General Characteristics. — Bill short, more or less depressed, with the gape very 

 wide, and the sides gradually compressed towards the tip; the nostrils basal, lateral, 

 and rounded ; the wings lengthened, with the first quill the longest; the tail more or 

 less forked ; the tarsi short, generally naked and scutellated ; the toes usually long 

 and slender; and the claws moderate and slightly curved. 



Numerous species of bh'ds belonging to this sub-family are dis- 

 tributed throughout most parts of both hemispheres, migrating 



* See "British Birds and their Haunts," by the Rev. C. A. Johns. 



