54 A BIRD CALENDAR 



The swifts (Cypselus indicus) also are busy 

 with their nests. These are saucer-shaped 

 structures, composed of feathers, straw and 

 other materials made to adhere together, and 

 to the beam or stone to which the nest is 

 attached, by the glutinous saliva of the swifts. 

 Deserted buildings, outhouses and verandahs 

 of bungalows are the usual nesting sites of 

 these birds. At this season swifts are very 

 noisy. Throughout the day and at frequent 

 intervals during the night they emit loud 

 shivering screams. At sunset they hold 

 high carnival, playing, at breakneck speed 

 and to the accompaniment of much scream- 

 ing, a game of " follow the man from 

 Cook's." 



The swifts are not the only birds engaged 

 in rearing up young in our verandahs. Sparrows 

 and doves are so employed, as are the wire- 

 tailed swallows (Hirundo smithii). These last 

 are steel-blue birds with red heads and white 

 under plumage. They derive the name " wire- 

 tailed " from the fact that the thin shafts of 

 the outer pair of tail feathers are prolonged 

 five inches beyond the others and look like 

 wires. Wire-tailed swallows occasionally build 

 in verandahs, but they prefer to attach their 



