SWALLO WS TYRANT-BIRDS. 



373 



Fig. 115, THE 

 COMMON SWALLOW 

 (Hiru 



tailed flycatchers (Rhipidura) of India and Australia build a cup-shaped nest 

 on a bough ; and besides these few forms there are many others which we 

 have not space to enumerate, such as the paradise flycatchers (Terpsiphone) 

 of Africa and India, remarkable for their long tails, which form a kind of 

 streamer. 



The swallows, so often associated with the swifts, because of their similar 

 manner of flight and mode of living, are now recognised by all ornithologists 

 as being true Passeres. They have, how- 

 ever, a different arrangement of the The Swallows. 

 feather-tracts to the rest of the perch- Family 

 ing birds, in having the spinal tract HirunJinidcE. 

 forked on the back. Swallows are found 

 all over the world, and in summer penetrate very far 

 north, our common swallow (Hirundo rustica) having 

 been seen near Spitsbergen, and wintering as far south 

 as the Cape Colony and the Indian Peninsula. In 

 America the cliff"- swallow ( Petroche lidon pyrrhono to) and 

 the purple martin (Progne purpurea) also perform migra- 

 tions almost equal in extent to those of the American barri- 

 swallow (Hirundo erythrogaster), which is the counterpart 

 of our H. rustica. Many of the swallows build in barns 

 and outhouses or in holes of trees, and make rough nests 

 of mud and straw, lined with feathers, but some, like the 

 house-martins (Chelidon) build their mud nests under the 

 eaves of houses, and lay white eggs. The nest of our 

 house-martin (Chelidon urbica) is an instance of this method, and in this 

 genus the eggs are white, not spotted as in the case of the true swallows. 

 The bank-martins (Gotile) also lay white eggs, which are deposited at the end 

 of a tunnel excavated by the birds themselves. 



All the birds contained in this section of the passeriformes have the in- 

 trinsic muscles of the syrinx fixed to the middle of the bronchial semi-rings. 

 The first sub-division of the Mesomyodi have the lower end 

 of the trachea not modified, the syrinx as in the oscines, but Section 



with a lesser number of singing-muscles. This sub-division Mesomyodi. 

 is called the Acromyodce. There are eight acromyodian 

 families, of which mention is made below, and they are distinguished by the 

 different scutellation of the tarsi. In the first division occur the Tyrannidce, 

 Oxyrhamphidce, and Pipridce ; in these the tarsus is what is called "exas- 

 pidean." In the second division, where the tarsus is " pycnaspidean," are 

 the Cotingidce and Phytotomidw. In the third is the family PhilepittidcK, 

 with a " taxaspidean " tarsus; and lastly, the fourth division, with an 

 4 * ochreate " tarsus, containing the Pittidw and Xeniscidce. The last three 

 families inhabit the Old World, but all the others belong to the New 

 World. 



In the tyrants the " exaspidean " form of tarsus prevails, i.e., the scutella- 

 tion of the fore part of the tarsus is continued over the whole outer side of 

 it, and includes also the hinder aspect or the planta tarsi. 

 The family is divided by Dr. P. L. Sclater into four sub- 

 families, the Tceniopteritue, Platyrhynchince, Elceniince, and 

 TyrannincK. The tyrants number more than 400 species, a 

 certain portion of which are migratory, breeding in North 

 America, and wandering to Central and South America in winter. 



The Tyrants 



Family 

 Tyrannidie. 



By far 



