THE GOAT-SUCKER. 
24] 
Table XII. (See page 14.) 
Order 2. Passerine. — Tribe 6. Planirostres. 
This tribe contains but three genera, two of which, namely, 
the Swift and the Swallow, are by common observers con- 
sidered as the same, though 
there is a remarkable difference 
in the position of their claws : 
the third is that of the Goat- 
suckers, whose enormously wide, 
gaping mouths, and short, flat, 
softish beaks, at once distin- 
guish them from other species. 
As we are not writing a 
regular book upon the natural 
history of birds, but confining 
ourselves chiefly to anecdotes 
connected with their habits, we shall not pretend to enter 
into the many details which it might be otherwise necessary 
to mention, and shall therefore merely remind our readers 
that Swallows are the most conspicuous of our summer 
birds, that with their first appearance we are accustomed to 
associate the departure of Winter, and the forthcoming of 
Summer. 
We have four sorts, a little brownish bird, called the Sand- 
Martin (. Hirundo rijp aria), which leads the way, and if 
looked for about the first week in April, may be seen hurry- 
ing over the surface of large sheets of water or rivers, near 
to which are banks of sandy soil, in which they burrow and 
build their nests ; the Chimney- Swallow {Hirundo rustic a), 
with his red patch' upon his throat, and the Martin {Hirundo 
urbica ) follow nearly together ; the large screaming Swallow 
or Swift {Hirundo apus) being the last to come and the first 
to go. 
We have already spoken of migration (p. 78), and the 
R 
Skull of a Goat- Sucker. 
