168 BIRDS' NESTS 



a fluttering manner to shape the nest around her 

 body." After the first egg was laid, she continued 

 to add to the nest by putting a bit of web or cotton 

 round it, being apparently hindered in her operations 

 by a high wind, which caused her to continue sitting 

 to prevent the eggs from being thrown out. Humming- 

 birds appear to be much attached to their breeding 

 places, in some cases being known to return to them 

 yearly and make new nests on the remains of the old 

 ones. 



The open nests of the Swifts must now claim a pass- 

 ing notice. Although but a small group (numbering 

 less than eighty species), the Swifts present consider- 

 able diversity in their nesting arrangements. Most of 

 these birds build covered or concealed nests in build- 

 ings, caves, and so forth; others construct a domed 

 or roof type of nest (cow/, p. 211); whilst some form 

 open cup-shaped structures, and these must be de- 

 scribed here. Of these the species associated in the 

 genus Dendrochelidon nest on stumps. Others form- 

 ing the genus Macropteryx, popularly termed " Tree 

 Swifts," make a very curious nest, remarkable speci- 

 ally for its small size, and attached to the side of a 

 thin bough of a tree. Hume describes one of these 

 nests as follows : " The stem to which the nest was 

 attached is about 0-8 inch in diameter; against the 

 side of this the nest is glued, so that the upper margin 

 of the nest is on a level with the upper surface of 

 the branch. The nest itself is half of a rather deep 



