CHAPTER III. 



SWALLOWS' NESTS CONTINUED. EDIBLE NESTS, EAST INDIES. 

 GOAT-SUCKERS. MODE OF SEIZING MOTHS. CAVERN WITH 



THEIR NESTS DESCRIBED. TENUIROSTRES ; NARROW-BILLED. 



NUTHATCH. TREE-CREEPER. BEE-EATER. HOOPOE. 



KINGFISHER. HUMMING BIRDS. CLIMBING BIRDS. CUXEI- 



ROSTRES ; WEDGE-BILLED. JACAMA. ANIS. 'CUCKOO. 



ANECDOTES AND HABITS OF. 



SWALLOWS' nests, as we know, are, in this country, 

 invariably made of mud externally; but, in America, 

 an intelligent traveller, Sir Francis Head, informs us, 

 that he met with those of the common species 

 building in hollow trees; the place he observed 

 them in being beyond the dwellings of man, and the 

 accommodation of houses and walls; and that they 

 formed their nests of the minute fibres of roots, 

 strongly cemented together, so as to make a compact 

 vessel, as tight as a China cup. 



But the nest most worthy of notice is that of a 

 small Swallow, met with in the East Indies (Hirundo 

 escidcntci). The species, by whose labours these 

 nests are formed, is about the size of the common 

 Martin. Its chief peculiarity consists in having the 

 width of its bill increased by a naked piece of skin, 

 something like parchment, which, when the bill is 

 shut, lies folded together, but which, when open, is 

 considerably extended, enabling the bird to catch 

 with greater ease, while on the wing, the insects that 

 serve it for food. They are exceedingly light and 

 tender; ten of them together weighing little more 



