100 BRITISH BIRDS. 



medial and external digits have only three phalanges, like the inner digit, as 

 was first pointed out by Nitzsch in 1811. This is the case, I believe, wath 



all the species of Cypselus and Panyptila In all the other genera of Cypse- 



lidse, as far as I have been able to ascertain, the normal rule is followed, the 

 medial digit having four phalanges, and the outer digit five." 



" One of the most remarkable points in the structure of the Cypselidee 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 glue by which the other 

 materials are joined together, and the whole nest affixed to the rock, wall, or 

 other object against which it is placed. In some species of Collocalia, how- 

 ever, the whole nest is made up of inspissated saliva, and becomes the edible 

 bird's-nest so well known in the East." 



The same author (P. Z. S. 1866, p. 123) mentions a deviation in the 

 Caprimulgidse from the normal rule as regards the phalanges of the toes. 



COLUMBA PALUMBUS. 



(Wood-Pigeon.) 



Mem. — Nov. 9, 1859. "We had a flight this morning for two hours from 

 seven o'clock a.m. . . . Thousands of this bird passed Brighton, slowly going 

 west. 



May 23, 1861. My father's holts at S. Neots, Huntingdonshire, have 

 just been cut, which enables the Wood-Pigeons to feed upon the potato- 

 like portion of the round-leafed ranunculus (^Ranunculus rotundifolius), of 

 which they are very fond. The local name of this small fruit is king-cob ; 

 it comes at the joints of the stem, not the root, and is of the size of a small 

 pea ; it looks like a new potato. The flower of the plant is exactly the same 

 as that of the buttercup. The Pigeons come in numbers to feed. Waterton, 



