. New England bird life: being a manual of New England ornithology; . theirname, — though too often exposed in such situations todisaster by fire and flood ;as when a soaking rainloosens the mucilaginousfastening of the nest, andthe whole comes tumblingdown. The frying-pan out of which the littlebirds sometimes fall intothe fire, is one of the fig. , with most curious of all Speci- mucronate rectnx. mens of bird architecture. It consists of a basket-workof bits of twigs, glued together and to the side of thechimney with the sticky saliva of the birds — the samesubstance that in
. New England bird life: being a manual of New England ornithology; . theirname, — though too often exposed in such situations todisaster by fire and flood ;as when a soaking rainloosens the mucilaginousfastening of the nest, andthe whole comes tumblingdown. The frying-pan out of which the littlebirds sometimes fall intothe fire, is one of the fig. , with most curious of all Speci- mucronate rectnx. mens of bird architecture. It consists of a basket-workof bits of twigs, glued together and to the side of thechimney with the sticky saliva of the birds — the samesubstance that in other cases, as those of the species ofthe East Indian genus Collocalia, forms the famousedible birds-nests used for making soup by the celes-tial heathens. The twigs are gathered in the most skil-ful manner by the birds, who dash past the ends ofbranches and snap off bits with the beak as quick asthought. The completed basket has a semicircular brim,and shallow cavity, in which are laid four or five purewhite, narrowly elliptical eggs, about in length by. 58 CYPSELID^ : SWIFTS. in breadth. In the North woods the nests are stilloften constructed in hollow trees, as well as in barns andsheds in the sparsely settled districts. The Swifts reach New England betimes in spring,some seasons by the middle of April, and again not tillMay, remaining through the greater part of it not that, being so abundant and so universallydistributed, they lack the charm of novelty, they couldnot but excite wonder and admiration, so splendid arethe powers of wing of these sombre-hued little creatures,so graceful and varied are their aerial excursions, so joy-ous and spontaneous their ceaseless twittering. Theyhave a rare genius for flying, and do well to trust them-selves utterly to its promptings — the keen-bladed, sharp-pointed wing never fails of its stroke, though cutting asubstance far more tenuous than the silken fabric whichtested the temper of Damascus steel —
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublishern, booksubjectbirds
