BIRDS ABOUT TOWNS 167 



its sharp claws. It builds a curious nest of 

 little bits of twigs, which it snaps off from the 

 trees as it flies past, and these are stuck to- 

 gether and to the wall with the sticky saliva 

 which all swifts have. You find the same 

 stuff gumming together the feathers and 

 straws with which our swift and the Indian 

 swift make their nests in holes and crannies. 

 Sometimes, in a very wet season, this natural 

 glue will melt, and down the chimney falls 

 the nest, but if the young birds are at all well 

 grown they will save themselves by clinging 

 to the wall and crawl up to the top into safety. 

 In some of the West Indian Islands we find 

 several sorts of what are there called black- 

 birds they are really troupials, birds which 

 have more of the starling about them living 

 about the towns like sparrows; and in 

 Demerara the place of sparrows is taken by 

 the kiskadee, or sulphury tyrant, a relative 

 of the king-bird I was speaking about in a 

 previous chapter. The kiskadee is a bird 

 about as big as a thrush, with a brown 

 back, yellow breast, and black and white 

 head ; it has a strong crow-like beak, and 

 has no objection to making a meal of 



