SWALLOWS AND SWIFTS. 89- 



before felt that I was. I almost think I may leave the unbounded riches of the Nova Zembla coasts 

 and of the north of Siberia their Steller's Duck, Curlew, Sandpiper, Little Stint, Knot, Sanderling,. 

 Grey Plover, Grey Phalarope to younger adventurers. . . . 



" 'Almost every day (and it is now the sixth since that of my ai-rival here) Ludwig has told me 

 the whole story of the Sidensvans' nest, and I am never tired of hearing it : How the season was 

 very backward ; how, in their expedition, he and Piko Heiki were getting very much out of spirits, 

 at the little success they met with. How he saw this bird in the sunshine. How, when at last the 

 nest was found, he could scarcely believe his eyes ; how he went to it again, and again, each time con- 

 vinced when at the spot, but believing it all a dream as soon as he was at a distance. The rising and 

 falling of the crest of the bird, its curious song or voice all he is eager to tell over and over again ; 

 and I have the fullest version, with all the " I said," " he said," " Michel said," " Ole said," &c. These 

 Sardio lads, as you have heard me say formerly, have a good knowledge of the small birds of their 

 neighbourhood, but they are none of them sm-e whether they have ever seen Sidensvans before. As I 

 have also told you, it seemed to be known to a very few woodsmen on that side of the country under the 

 name of " Korwa-rastas" or " Korwa-lintit," (Ear-bird). It had occasionally attracted their attention as 

 having feathers on its head standing up like Squirrel's ears. It was not till the second year of my 

 stay here that I ascertained this with certainty. The first summer I believed it to be " ffarrhi," a bird 

 coming in bad seasons, and properly the common Jay ; but it seems that this name is also really some- 

 times given to Sidensvans, and therefore, as well as for other reasons, I am inclined to believe that the 

 bird is only here very occasionally.' " 



The Waxwing is about eight inches in length, and is of an elegant form and coloration. The 

 plumage is light greyish -brown, shading gradually off into blue-grey on the rump and upper tail-coverts,, 

 and the under surface is pale brownish-grey ; the head is ornamented with a low crest, which the bird 

 erects or depresses at will, and is of a more reddish coloration than the rest of the back ; a broad, 

 black streak passes through the eye and round the back of the head ; the quills are blackish, with a 

 white spot on the tips of the primaries, which is yellow on the outer webs ; the secondaries dusky 

 grey tipped with white, eight or nine of the innermost having wax-like appendages ; primary coverts, 

 tipped with white ; tail grey, with a broad band of yellow at the tip, before which is a blackish band ;. 

 the tips of the feathers also with wax-like appendages ; throat black, edged with whitish at the base of 

 the lower mandible, and shaded with rufous below ; under tail-coverts chestnut. The female is like 

 the male, but has the wax-like appendages to the wing and tail smaller. 



THE SIXTH FAMILY OF THE FINCH-LIKE PERCHING BIRDS. -THE HIKUNDINIDJE. 



SWALLOWS. 



The researches which osteologists have instituted during recent years into the skeletons of birds; 

 have resulted, in some instances, in a change of classification, which must seem strange to those who 

 remember the time-honoured arrangements of Cuvier, and it seems at first sight an unacceptable 

 proposition to separate certain groups so far away from one another in the natural systems. Thus it 

 is doing violence to the old classifications to put the Sun-birds in a different order to the Humming- 

 birds, considering the great similarity in their outward form and habits, and the same may be said 

 of the Swallows and the Swifts. Of the grounds of their separation, however, the following explanation 

 by Professor Garrod * is worthy of attentive study : 



" The common Swift and the common Swallow are birds which intimately resemble one another 

 in many respects. The size and general coloration are much the same. In both the beak is very 

 broad and short, the first bone of the pointed wing, which corresponds to the human, upper arm 

 bone,t being also particularly short ; whilst the bones of the wing which agree with those of the 

 fore-arm the radiusf and the ulnat are proportionately very long. In both the feet are small, and 

 the power of progression on the ground feeble, each living almost entirely on the wing, making the 

 smaller insects its staple article of food, and each building its nest in walls or eaves of roofs, not 

 in the branches of trees. 



" This collection of external resemblances would generally be accepted as sufficient evidence that 

 the Swallow and the Swift are closely allied birds . . . Further, the fact that the two birds are 

 * See Zoologist, Vol. 35, 1877, pp. 217-220. t See figure of Skeleton of Eagle, Vol. III., p. 241. 



