A Familiar History of Birds (Volume 2); Their Nature, Habits, and Instincts (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 56 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- Tr.es; Wedge-billed. Jacama. 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 he met with those of the common species building in hollow trees; the place he observed them in being beyond the dwellings of man, and the accommodation of houses 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 esculentd). 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 bill increased by a naked piece of skin, something like parchment, which, when the bill is shut, lies folded together, but 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 morethan two ounces and a half. There are two places in particular, near Batavia, where they are found in great numbers; both in a range of high land, extending towards the sea. There are, indeed, other places in the same district, or at a greater distance from the coast, which either produce a few, or are carefully concealed by the Javanese, wh...