THE OR LET ON SWIFTS. 51 
its head close between its shoulders. The length of the body 
without the feathers is 4^ inches. 
Now just consider these figures. The bird only rveighs 
if oz., and the spread of its wings is 15^ inches ;* if stretched 
they easily come to 16J inches, but my measurements are taken 
without stretching, and mostly from living birds. This is 
probably the largest expanse of wing, in proportion to the weight, 
to be found in any bird. Each wing is very nearly as long as 
the entire bird. 
But mere figures are so inadequate to convey a right im- 
pression to the mind in such a case as this, that I send a tracing 
of the outline of a Swift with and without its feathers. This 
you may take to be correct, for I laid the bird on a sheet of 
paper and carefully drew the outline round with a pencil — you 
will notice that the tail is nearly as long as the body. 
The eyes of the Swift, though deep-set, look straight ahead. 
They must not project, or the pressure of the wind would be 
too great upon them and they would impede the flight. So the 
head is cut away in front so as to give them a clear field. They 
are large and of a beautiful dark brown. The deep groove cut 
in front is lined with black, which has no gloss about it, so that 
the light shall not be reflected into the eye ; and immediately 
in front of the eye is a small tuft of upright feathers, the use of 
which- seems to be to turn the wind off the eyeball, but they are 
not long enough to obstruct the sight. 
The niouth is very wide, the corners of it come down under- 
neath the eyes. When a feather is taken, it is not carried in 
the tip of the beak but right at the back of the mouth, as the 
Swift flies at it with mouth wide open, and does not pause like 
a swallow to take it daintily in the end of its beak. The effect 
is peculiar, the ends of the white feather issuing from near the 
bird’s shoulders. The fact that the materials are thus carried 
may partly account for the cementing of the nest. 
There are 10 primaries in the Swift’s wing. The longest 
(the second) measures 6 inches, and the shortest 2^ inches. The 
tail has also 10 feathers, the longest, the outside ones, are 3^ 
inches long and the middle ones 2J inches. The shape of the 
tail is worthy of notice. When at rest it is forked, but when 
spread to its most effective extent it is not forked but straight 
at the end, and the feathers still support one another by over- 
lapping ; they are very stiff, especially the outside ones. 
There is a peculiarity about the Swift’s foot besides the fact 
that all the toes point forward, and that is, that the under side 
of the leg is soled up to the joint, and is in fact used as part 
of the sole of the bird’s foot, being flattened for the purpose. 
The claws are very sharp and can be bent double with the toes. 
The grip is very strong and the bird won’t let go. I am very 
* Just the distance from corner to corner diagonally across Nature Notes 
lying open. 
