SWIFTS 
(Cypselid^) 
The swifts, u$ual]y small birds, are so named because of 
their remarkable powers of flight. The large spine-tailed 
swifts, examples of which occur in Malaya, include the swiftest 
of all known birds. In the air swifts are easily confounded 
with swallows by the uninitiatedt but the resemblance in shape 
ai\d in the method of himting^ is no criterion as to the relation- 
ship of the two groups which are genetically remote. Swifts 
are found in most parts of the world. They are essentially 
aerial in their habits their food consisting entirely of insects 
captured on the wing. 
The feet arc extremely small, the mouth very capacious 
and the wings long and slender. 
In the Malay Peninsula some fifteen species are found. 
These ui elude several tiny species of the genus ColiocaUa, the 
members of which make the nests esteemed by Chinese for the 
purpose of making soup. 
['35i 
