The Tree-Swifts 



203 



the small size and high position of the entrance to the 

 nesting chamber. 



Returning again to the Swifts, I may call attention to 

 the remarkable nest made by the Tree-Swifts (Macropteryx}. 

 These are probably the smallest nests made by any bird, 

 considering the size of the individual which builds them. 

 The first of these pigmy nests which I received at the British 

 Museum was sent from Labuan by Sir Hugh Low. The nest 

 only measured an inch-and-a- quarter across (see p. 168), and 



The Tree-Swift (Macropteryx coronatus). 



in it were the remains of a white egg, unfortunately broken. 

 The Kadhyan native who brought it in said that he had 

 shot the bird with a sumpitan or blow-pipe, as it was sitting 

 on a low tree-stump, and that he found the nest lying on 

 the ground by the side of the dead bird, so that he be- 

 lieved that the latter had been carrying the nest about with 

 her. This is, of course, impossible ; but in all probability 

 the Swift had dislodged the nest in its fall, and had broken 

 the egg. The species found by Sir Hugh Low's col- 

 lector was Macropteryx comatns, but the Indian Tree-Swift 



