236 THE GOAT-SUCKER. 



Table XII. (See page 14.) 



Order 2. Passerine. — Tribe 6. Plaxirostres. 



This tribe contains but three genera, two of which, namely, 

 the Swift and the Swallow, are by common observers con- 

 sidered as the same, though there 

 is a remarkable difference in the 

 position of their claws : the third 

 is that of the Goat-suckers, whose 

 enormously wide, gaping mouths, 

 and short, flat, softish beaks, at 

 once distinguish them from other 

 species. 



As we are not writing a regular 



Skull of a Goat-sucker. _ , ,. . \ .. . ^ 1 



book upon the natural history or 

 birds, but confining ourselves chiefly to anecdotes connected 

 with their habits, we shall not pretend to enter into the many 

 details which it might be otherwise necessary to mention, and 

 shall therefore merely remind our readers that Swallows are 

 the most conspicuous of our summer birds, that with their 

 first appearance we are accustomed to associate the departure 

 of winter, and the forthcoming of Summer. 



We have four species with the Swift, which is popularly 

 classed with the Swallows, yet in truth the bird is far separated 

 from them, approaching more nearly the Humming-birds : — A 

 little brownish bird, called the Sand-Martin, which leads the 

 way, and if looked for about the first week in April, may be 

 seen hurrying over the surface of large sheets of water or 

 rivers, near to which are banks of sandy soil, in which they 

 burrow and build their nests; the Chimney-Swallow, with 

 his red patch upon his throat, and the Martin follow nearly 

 together ; the large screaming Swallow or Swift being the last 

 to come and the first to go. 



We have already spoken of migration (p. 81), and the little 

 difficulty in accounting for it, rapid as these birds are in 

 motion, and fitted by their length of wing for long-continued 

 flight Notwithstanding which, many naturalists formerly, 



