H I R U N D O. 



over those lowland and marshy places for about a 

 fortnight or three weeks, after which it betakes itself 

 to the mountains and begins in earnest its labours for 

 the year. It nestles in the clefts of rocks which 



stand high and beetling in mid air, among which it 

 dives about with great vigour and rapidity, wheeling 

 and sporting as if it were wholly composed of wings, 

 though its little crab feet are always in readiness to 

 clutch and maintain their hold on the least irregu- 

 larity of the rock, whenever they require a pause in 

 their aerial motions. They usually fly in society, not 

 in very great numbers ; but there are some curious 

 instances of consent among them ; for while one 

 clings to the rock, a second clings to the first, a third 

 to the second, and so on, till the whole form a sort 

 of chain of birds moving in the air. What may be 

 the reason of this singular mode of clinging to each 

 other it may be difficult to say, but itmust be momen- 

 tary, as the birds remain but a very short time in this 

 posture before they are wheeling and screaming with 

 the same activity as before.' Such of them as nestle 

 in the Appenines appear earlier in the season, and 

 set about the construction of their nests. Those 

 nests are small for the size of the birds, but they are 

 carefully put together and carefully lined with soft 

 feathers. In those southerly places they have two 

 broods in the season ; the first, consisting of three or 

 four, being matured about the middle of July ; and the 

 second, consisting of two only, about the end of 

 September. Those which resort to more upland and 

 northerly places are said to have only one brood in 

 the year, consisting of two eggs, as is the case with 

 our swift. In October they usually take their de- 

 parture for more southern climates ; but they are 

 not so constant in their time of departure as in that 

 of their arrival. The Italians, who are much more 

 given to eat small birds than we of a land t 

 abundant in beef and mutton, esteem the young oi 

 these swifts as delicacies for the table ; but after their 

 jnuscles have been seasoned to the sky by a journey 

 to Africa and back again, they, like the muscles of all 

 other birds inured to vigorous and continued flight 

 become somewhat tough for mastication. 



When these birds retire to rest after the severe 

 labours of the day, the male and female squat down 

 together upon the nest ; and when they do so thej 

 may be touched, or even taken, with the hand. The 

 precise range of this species in longitude is not very 

 well known ; but it is not at all improbable that they 

 may reach as far as the east of Asia, or even to the 

 oriental islands ; for there are several species in 

 those parts of the world whose characters are not very 

 well ascertained ; though it should seem that some o 

 them, at least, bear a considerable resemblance to thi 

 species. It should seem, however, that the long 

 winged swift. (C. longipenms) is a distinct species 

 It has the upper part of a bright dark-green colour 

 with the wings and tail of a bluish green, except the 

 quills next the body, which are white. There is a 

 spot of maroon brown on the ear coverts, and the 

 under part of the neck is ash-coloured, with the excep- 

 tion of the middle of the belly, and the under tail 

 coverts, which are white. The rump is greenish ash, 

 the biFi black, and the feet reddish. The male is 

 without the spot on the ear coverts. The length of 

 the head is between eight and nine inches. 



THE GREAT CHINESE SWIFT (C. Sinenat) is ano- 

 ther oriental species, having some points of resem- 

 blance to the white-billed swift of southern Europe ; 



761 



ut it is larger in size, and differently coloured. It is 

 rown on the upper part, with the top of the head 

 right russet, a brown band across the eyes, sur- 

 ounded with small white feathers. The bill and feet 



are bluish grey ; and the length about eleven inches 

 and a half. 



THE RUFFED SWIFT (C. comatus} is an inhabitant 

 >f the oriental islands. The upper parts, the neck, 

 he breast, and the belly, are bronze green ; the sides 

 of the head are furnished with long and straight 

 eathers of a white colour, which form a sort of hood 

 over the base of the bill, and also a kind of crest on 

 he nape. The feathers on the other parts of the 

 lead are also long and pendent, and they are bronze 

 reen. The quills and tail feathers are bright green 

 with metallic reflections ; the belly and the under tail 

 coverts are white ; and the bill and feet are blackish. 

 The tail is very much forked. It is a beautiful 

 species, but it is small, the length being little more 

 than five inches and a half. The habits and migra- 

 tions of these southern species are little known ; and 

 some of them have, in all probability, been con- 

 founded with the swallows, from which, however, the 

 real swifts can always be easily distinguished by the 

 shortness and peculiar form of their feet, and the ele- 

 vation and style of their flight. 



THE GREAT SWIFT (C. giganteus) is a native of 

 Java, and most probably of several other south-eastern 

 isles. It is nearly eight inches in length ; the general 

 colour of the upper part is blackish brown, with the 

 exception of the middle of the back and the scapulars, 

 which are ash-colour without any reflections or gloss. 

 The top of the head, the nape part of the coverts of 

 the wings, and also of the under tail coverts, are of a 

 deep green with very brilliant reflections ; the greater 

 coverts and quills of the wings are black with brilliant 

 reflections ; and some of the quills have the point 

 and the shaft prolonged, and without webs for some 

 part of their length. There is a white band on the 

 thighs, and the tail feathers also are in part white. 

 The bill and feet are brown. The eastern islands 

 are, indeed, very favourable pastures for fissirostral 

 birds, because the air over them swarms so thickly 

 with insects , and though some of the species are 

 migrant in that garden of the world as well as in our 

 more seasonal country, they are, taking them on the 

 whole, much more resident ; and though it is difficult 

 to say which are the more characteristic birds in a 

 country so abounding in birds, and so curious as well 

 as bril'liant in some of the species, yet the Sunda 

 Islands appear to be especially the head-quarters of 

 the swifts, which are the most rapid and elevated 

 fivers of all insectivorous birds which seek their food 

 on the wing. Whether any of the swifts, properly so 

 called, visit New Holland, has not been so clearly 

 made out ; but there are some swallows in that part 

 of the country, though in several respects they differ 

 from ours. The principal one which seasonally visits 

 the east coast of New Holland, is, 



THE JAVA SWALLOW (H. Javanicd) ; and we can- 

 not perhaps do better than quote the following account 

 of it from Cayley, as communicated to the Linnaean 

 Society by Vigors and Horsfield : " The resting- 

 places of these swallows are on the dead boughs of 

 large trees, where I have seen several of them ga- 

 thered together in the same manner as European 

 swallows on the roof of a house. I apprehend, how- 

 ever, that it is when their young have taken to flight 

 that this occurs. 



