2 20 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



way quite well. A pair of marked swallows have been known 

 to come back to the same place year after year, and to make their 

 nest in exactly the same spot. 



In one way the swallow is very like the nightjar. That 

 bird, you will recollect, has a very large and wide beak, and a very 

 sticky tongue, so that even a large insect, when once it is seized, 

 has no chance of escaping. The beak of the swallow is made 

 in just the same way, and as it dashes along through the air it 

 catches numbers of little insects. These stick to its gummy tongue, 

 and are held firmly until it is ready to swallow them. 



Many people find a dilificulty in distinguishing the swallow from 

 a martin or a swift. But you may easily know the swallow by its 

 long forked tail, which is more than twice as long as that of either 

 of the other birds. The martin has a broad bar of white across the 

 lower part of its back, and is white underneath; while the swift is 

 a very much larger bird, and has long, narrow, sickle-shaped wings. 



The swallow builds its nest in a very curious way. It makes 

 the walls of mud, which it brings in little pellets from the nearest 

 puddle or pond. These it kneads carefully together, and so makes 

 the outer shell of the nest. 



If the mud does not " bind " well, it procures a few short pieces 

 of straw, and works them in with it. Then it gathers together soft 

 feathers, and makes a lining with them. And so it has a warm dry 

 nest in which to bring up its little ones. 



PICARI^ 



With the American Fly-catchers, Chatterers (the latter in- 

 cluding the Bell-birds), Wood-hewers, and the Lyre-birds, we come 

 to the end of the great order of the Passeres or the Perching 

 Birds. 



Then we enter upon another great order of birds, which includes 

 some families with which we are more or less acquainted. The 

 order Picarl^ introduces us at once to the Woodpeckers, and 

 from them we pass almost straight to the Cuckoos, which lead us 



