The Swift, 



FAMILY CYPSKLIDvE. 



ALTHOUGH one would liardly suspect it if one compared tlie bills only, the 

 Swifts are the nearest allies of the Hunnning-Birds. In their habits they 

 are the most aerial of birds, their powers of flight being enormous ; they are also, 

 in my opinion, utterly incapable of rising from a perfectly smooth surface, although 

 a very slight inequality will enable them to do so ; for this reason, they very 

 rarely descend to the ground.* 



Jerdon (Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 169) says :—" The Swifts form a remarkable 

 group of birds, organized specially both for speedy and continued flight, many of 

 them being capable of sustaining themselves in the air for the whole day without 

 once resting. They are distinguished from the Swallows by having only ten tail 

 feathers, by the wings being longer, narrower, and more or less falcate, the first 

 and second quills generally about equal, and the secondaries short and hidden by 

 the coverts ; b}^ the smaller and differently formed bill, and by the structure of 

 the feet. The gape is very wide ; there are no rictal bristles ; the tarsus is short, 

 and the toes are short, with sharp, strongly curved claws." 



To these characters Seebohm adds that the Swifts have ten primaries instead 

 of nine ; and the hind toe, especiall}^ its claw, is proportionate!}- smaller than in 

 the Swallows, and is often directed forwards. 



Dr. Sclater, in his " A-ofcs on the Genera and Species 0/ Cypselida'' (P.Z.S. 1865, 

 p. 597) says : — " One of the most remarkable points in the structure of the Cypsclid<i 

 is the great development of the salivary glands. In all the species of which the 

 nidification is known, the secretion thus produced is used more or less in the 

 construction of the nest. In most cases it forms a gliie b}- which the other 

 materials are joined together, and the whole nest afl&xed to the rock, wall, or other 

 object against which it is placed. In some species of Col/oca lia, however, the whole 

 nest is made up of inspissated saliva, and becomes the edible bird's "nest so well 

 known in the east. 



The eggs of the Cypselidce appear to be alwa3-s regular!}- oval in shape, and 

 colourless." 



* On a perfectl}- level road I have seen a Swift struggling to rise and perfectly helpless, so thai a gentle- 

 man picked it up and brought it into our hotel ; there it was placed upon the carpet in which its claws became 

 entangled, so frightening it that it feigned death. It was then thrown out of the window and fell to within a 

 foot or two of the ground when it suddenly opened its wings and sailed away. 



