NATURAL HISTORY. 235 



" Who but the swallow triumphs now alone ? 

 The canopy of h .-aven is all her own : 

 Her youthful offspring to their haunts repair, 

 And glide along in glades, and skim in air." DRYDEX. 



of listening, his beak almost touches the ground, and he draws back 

 his head as if to make a determined peck. 



Again he pauses and listens ; hops, perhaps, once or twice, 

 scarcely moving his position, and pecks smartly on the sod, then 

 once more stands motionless. 



After a moment's pause, appearing to have ascertained that all is 

 fight, he pecks away assiduously, and soon draws forth a worm, 

 which his keen sense of hearing had informed him was not far off, 

 and which his hops and previous peckings had driven to the 

 surface to escape the approach of what the worm apprehended, 

 from the manner of the pecking, was an under-ground enemy. 



710. Wliy have the thrush, the golden-crested wren, and some 

 other birds the front toes fastened by a thin skin in contradistinc- 

 tion, birds -which have their toes quite separated from each 

 other ? 



Because the birds named rest chiefly upon light bushes, and this 

 union of the two toes gives the foot a stronger foundation for 

 clasping the slender twigs than loose toes could do. 



Sub-order II. Fissirostree. 



711. Why are the fissirostres so designated? 



Because these birds are distinguished by the wideness of their 

 gape, hence they are called gapers ; the word is derived fromfindo, 

 to " divide," and rostrum, a " beak." The swallow is the type of 

 the species, hence its name. 



712. Why are swifts, swallows, and martins appointed to their 

 different ranges of elevation when on the wing ? 



The intention is, doubtless, to clear the air in some degree of its 

 over-abundance of living swarms. Very high in the atmosphere, the 

 fewest flies are to be found: there the rapid swift is stationed. 

 The chimney swallows take a lower region, and fly more slowly, for 



