THE GOAT-SUCKER. 241 



TABLE XII. (See page 14.) 

 OEDEE 2. PASSEEINE. TEIBE 6. PLANIEOSTBES. 



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 distin- 

 guish them from other species. 

 As we are not writing a 

 regular book upon the natural 



history of birds, but confining 



, J , . ' Skull of a Goat-Sucker, 



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 sorts, a little brownish bird, called the Sand- 

 Martin (Hirundo riparia), which leads the way, and if 

 looked for about the first week in April, may be seen hurry- 

 ing 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 (Hirundo rustica), 

 with his red patch upon his throat, and the Martin (Hirundo 

 urbica) follow nearly together ; the large screaming Swallow 

 or Swift (Hirundo apus) being the last to come and the first 

 to go. 



We have already spoken of migration (p. 78), and the 



B 



