FAMILY F ISSIROSTR ATA. WIDE-MOUTHED. 



67 



Family WIDE-MOUTHED ; Fissirostrata. 



The beak is adapted for catching insects : it is short, broad, and deeply 

 cleft. They are birds of passage, and their food consists chiefly of insects. 



ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLKS. 



Genera. 



Hirundo - - - - ) Urbi 



PLATE 5. 



Species. 

 Rustica - - 



Cypselus - - 

 Caprimulgus - 



Esculenta - 

 jMurarius - 



i Europaeus 



\ Macrottipterus 



Common Name. 



- Chimney Swallow. 



- House Martin. 



- Esculent Swallow. 



- Black Swift. 



- European Goat-sucker. 



- Leona Goat-sucker. 



Another Genus is Podargus. 



CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA. 



1. HIRUNDO. Beak short, triangular, depressed, widely expanded at 

 the base, but compressed at the point ; the upper mandible slightly hooked 

 downwards, lower straight ; gape very wide, and reaching almost to the 

 eyes ; vibrissce short and few ; nostrils at the root of the beak, oblong, 

 partly covered by membrane ; wings long ; tail sometimes square, some- 

 times forked ; legs short and slender ; toes three in front and one behind, 

 the outer front toe united by membrane to the middle as far as the first 

 joint. 



2. CYPSELUS. Wings long and narrow ; tail, consisting of ten feathers, 

 forked in some, nearly even in others; legs thickly feathered; feet short; 

 four toes pointing forward ; claws strong and curved ; middle and outer 

 toes three phalanges each. 



3. CAPRIMULGUS. Beak short, but broad at its base, and often furnished 

 with bristles ; gape wide ; wings long ; tail generally square ; legs short, 

 with three toes connected at their base by membranes, and a toe behind. 



4. PODARGUS. See under " Description of Species." 



FISSIROSTRATA. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIES. 



HIRUNDO. Swallows are exceedingly active, being almost invariably on 

 the wing in search of insects, on which they feed whilst flying, and for this 

 purpose their wide mouth, which is continually open, admirably adapts 

 them ; their motions are extremely rapid ; turning short round upon their 

 prey with great quickness, they seize it so sharply that the snapping of 

 their beak makes a loud click. They are generally observed skimming 

 along the surface of water in search of their prey, which consists principally 

 of gnats, especially when they have young ones ; but when their breeding 

 time is over, they feed also on small scardbcri. As they dart along the 

 water, they may often be noticed dipping in their beaks to drink, and 

 dashing their breasts against it to bathe, and refresh themselves. The 

 quickness of their flight is very great. Spallanzani observes, that a pair of 

 Swallows flew from Milan to Pavia, a distance of eighteen miles, in thirteen 

 minutes. 



Most of the Swallow kind build, about houses, nests composed of mud 

 and straw, which, becoming hard, last for many years, and vary remarkably 

 in the different species ; some few bore holes in sand-banks, and, lining 

 them with hay and feathers, there nourish their young. During the winter 

 the nests are deserted, but the same tenants invariably return to their old 

 habitation in the spring. 



Swallows generally breed twice in the summer, and occasionally a third 

 time. Their latest brood is often destroyed by the cold weather setting in 

 before they are strong enough to escape it. 



Swallows, like many other animals, possess an esprit de corps, which 

 induces them to flock together in order to repel a common enemy ; such is 

 the case when a Hawk is in sight, when they rise about him, as it were to 

 make up for their weakness by endeavouring to intimidate him with 

 numbers. They are also not slow to render assistance under other untoward 

 circumstances, of which M. de Nemours in his " Memoires " mentions a 

 very interesting example : " A Martin was caught by the leg in a slip-knot 



of packthread, of which the other end was fastened to a gutter of the 

 College des Quatre Nations at Paris. At his cries all the Martins of the 

 large basin between the Tuileries and the Pont Neuf assembled about him, 

 and, after striking with their bills upon the packthread, succeeded in setting 

 him at liberty." 



Swallows do not remain with us all the year round; they are the 

 harbingers of spring, and their departure indicates the approach of winter. 



Swallows may be divided into Martins and True Swallows, the Martins 

 having the legs covered with down, whilst in the True Swallows they are 

 bare. The latter birds may also be divided into sections from the form of 

 their tails. 



Of the Martins there are three species the Window Swallow, or House 

 Martin (H. Urbica), shown on Plate 5, being the principal. It is about 

 four and a half inches in length ; the upper parts black, glossed with violet ; 

 the under parts white ; wings, tail, and tail-coverts dusky brown, glossed 

 with green on the edges ; legs and feet scantily covered with brownish-grey 

 down ; beak black. The Martin arrives about the latter end of April, and 

 builds its nest under the eaves of houses, and sometimes against the sides 

 of high cliffs near the sea. The hen lays six round white eggs, which are 

 hatched in about fifteen days ; and there is usually a second, and sometimes 

 a third brood. Whilst in the nest the parent birds, holding on by their 

 claws, feed their young ; which, when strong enough to fly, are fed whilst 

 on the wing with a very quick motion, which is hardly discernible, unless 

 the party watching be aware of the method. 



Martins are chilly birds, and may be observed collecting early in the 

 morning on the ridges of high houses facing towards the east, in order to 

 warm themselves by the first rays of the sun. They have been observed 

 in England as late as the middle of October, and even in November. As 

 the time of their departure approaches, they collect in large flocks, which 

 increase daily till they swarm " in myriads," as Mr. White says, " round 

 the villages on the Thames, darkening the face of the sky, as they frequent 

 the islets of that river, where they roost." 



The Chimney or Common Swallow (H. Rustica), figured on Plate 5, is a 

 species of the true Swallow. It is about six inches in length ; it is distin- 

 guished from all the other Swallows by the remarkable forkiness of its tail, 

 and the rusty red spot on the forehead and under the chin. The Swallow 

 builds a hemicylindrical nest of clay, open at the top, and lines it within 

 with feathers and soft grass ; the old birds commonly build against the 

 preceding year's nest, and in England most commonly in chimneys, whence 

 is derived their trivial name ; in Sweden they prefer barns, whence their 

 name Ladu Swala, or Barn Swallows ; but in other and hotter climates 

 they choose galleries, porches, or open halls. 



The Chimney SwaDow appears in Europe about a fortnight before the 

 Martin, and immediately resorts to the haunts of men : it breeds earlier 

 than any other species, and lays about six eggs, white, marked with little 

 red spots ; but if the eggs be removed, it has been known to deposit as 

 many as nineteen. They have usually two broods, the former hatched 

 towards the latter end of June, and the latter about the middle of August. 



The Sand Swallow, or Shore Bird (H. Riparia), lives in holes in sand- 

 pits, in banks of rivers and cliffs, and sometimes of trees, boring some feet 

 deep with its beak and claws, and lines its nest with straw and feathers. 

 Although it does not arrive till after the Martin and Chimney Swallow, yet 

 it brings out its young before that bird ; and generally has two broods, one 

 in June, the other in August. 



The Esculent Swallow (H. Fuciphaga, or Esculenta) is about the size of 

 the Sand Martin ; the upper parts shining dusky black ; under pale ash ; 

 tail black. They are found in the isles of the Indian Archipelago, and 

 build in the hollows of the rocks, not only on the shore, but up the country. 

 Their nests form a large article of commerce between the islanders and the 

 Chinese, who highly esteem them as aphrodisiacs. 



The True Swallows number about twenty-six species, of which the 

 Chimney and Esculent Swallows are species. 



CYPSELUS Swift. The genus Hirundo, according to the arrangement 

 of Linnaeus, included not only the Swallows but also the Swifts, which 



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