SWIFTS. 



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for their sociability. They often join together in great numbers to drive off 

 an enemy, the attack of which any one of them may fear. The swallow 

 announces, even to the swifts and other small birds, the approach of a bird of 

 prey. At 'the sight of an owl or a hawk it utters a piercing cry ; immediately all 

 the'birds of its species and the swifts assemble round it, and often fly in pha- 

 lanx against the enemy, which they harass until he is forced to retreat. 



The Swifts (Chcetura, Cypselics] have a forked tail, and surpass even the 

 swallows in their powers of flight ; in fact, they scarcely walk at all, and are 

 seen continually in flocks, pursuing insects in the upper regions of the atmo- 

 sphere with loud cries. They nestle in holes in walls and rocks, and climb 

 along smooth surfaces with facility. 



Among the Nocturnal Fissirostres are 



The Goatsuckers (Caprimulgus)* consisting of several genera, very 

 much resembling each other in their plumage and habits. They only appear 

 in the evening, and for this reason they might be called crepuscular birds. 





FIG. 350. NIGHT JAR. 



The silky nature of their feathers and their mixed and mottled plumage give 

 them, as far as relates to their colour, a strong resemblance to owls. Their 

 eyes are large ; their beak, furnished with strong moustaches, and more 

 deeply cleft than in swallows, is capable of receiving the largest insects, which 

 it retains by means of a viscid saliva. The nostrils are in the form of small 

 tubes, near its base. Their wings are long, their legs short and feathered, 

 and the thumb can be directed forwards. These birds live solitary, and only 

 fly during the twilight Or on fine nights ; they pursue moths and other noc- 

 turnal insects, and lay a small number of eggs on the ground, without taking 

 much care to construct a nest. When they fly, the rushing of the air into 



* Capra, a goat ; mulgeo, to milk. 



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