THE SWIFT. 3 
FAMILY CYPSELIDA. 
LTHOUGH one would hardly suspect it if one compared the bills only, the 
Swifts are the nearest allies of the Humming-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; by 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, especially its claw, is proportionately smaller than in 
the Swallows, and is often directed forwards. 
Dr. Sclater, in his ‘‘ Noles on the Genera and Species of Cypselide” (P.Z.S. 1865, 
p- 597) says: —‘‘ One of the most remarkable points in the structure of the Cypselide 
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 Co//ocalia, 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 Cyfse/ide appear to be always regularly oval in shape, and 
colourless.” 
* On a perfectly level road I have seen a Swift struggling to rise and perfectly helpless, so that 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. 
