55 
CHAPTER III. 
SWALLOWS’ NESTS CONTINUED. — EDIBLE NESTS, EAST 
INDIES. GOAT-SUCKERS. — MODE OF SEIZING MOTHS. 
CAVERN WITH THEIR NESTS DESCRIBED. TENUI- 
ROSTRES ; NARROW-BILLED. NUTHATCH. TREE- 
CREEPER. BEE-EATER. HOOPOE. KINGFISHER.— 
HUMMING BIRDS. CLIMBING BIRDS. CUNEIROS- 
TRES ; WEDGE-BILLED. J AC AM A. ANIS. CUCKOO* 
ANECDOTES AND HABITS OF. 
Swallows' nests, as we know, are, in this country, 
invariably made of mud externally; but, in America, 
an intelligent traveller, Sir Francis Head, informs us, 
that be met with those of the common species 
building in hollow trees; the place be observed 
them in being beyond the dwellings of man, and the 
accommodation of bouses and walls ; and that they 
formed their nests of the minute fibres of roots, 
strongly cemented together, so as to make a compact 
vessel, as tight as a China cup. 
But the nest most worthy of notice is that of a 
small Swallow, met with in the East Indies ( Hirundo 
esculent a). The species, by whose labours these 
nests are formed, is about the size of the common 
Martin. Its chief peculiarity consists in having the 
width of its hill increased by a naked piece of skin, 
something like parchment, which, when the hill is 
shut, lies folded together, hut which, when open, is 
considerably extended, enabling the bird to catch 
with greater ease, while on the wing, the insects that 
serve it for food. They are exceedingly light and 
tender ; ten of them together weighing little more 
