SWALLOWS AND SWIFTS ai 



ere the bird became a mummy, was her tongue, 

 which I myself drew out three inches beyond the 

 point of the bill. It was rough and tough, like gutta- 

 percha, tipped with a fine spike, and armed on each 

 side, for the last inch of its length, with a row of 

 sharp barbs pointing backwards. The whole was 

 lubricated with some patent stickfast, " always 

 ready for use." That grub must sit tight indeed 

 which this corkscrew will not draw when once the 

 hatchet has opened a way. 



The swallows and swifts, untirable on their wings, 

 but too gentle to hold their own in a jostling crowd, 

 soared away after the midges and May-flies and 

 pestilent gnats that rise from marsh and pond 

 to hold their joyous dances under the blue dome. 

 Continually rushing open-mouthed after these, they 

 have stretched their gape from ear to ear ; but their 

 bills have dwindled by disuse and left only an apology 

 for their absence. 



Compared with all these, the birds that can do 

 with a diet of fruit only lead an easy life. They 

 have just to pluck and eat — that is, if they are 

 pleased with small fruits and content to swallow 

 them whole. But the hornbills, being too bulky 

 to hop among twigs, need a long reach ; hence 

 the portentous machines which they carry on their 

 faces. The beak of a hornbill is nothing else than 

 a pair of tongs long enough to reach and strong 

 enough to wrench off a wild fig from its thick stem. 

 If it were of iron it would be thin and heavy ; being 



