INTRODUCTION,

49, Cu®TURA CAUDACUTA.

Spine-tailed Swift.

Tl litary example above alluded to was “shot about 9 p.m. on the 8th of July, 1846, by a farmer’s
1e solitary exé : :

+1 Essex: he saw it first in the evening of the 6th. He tells me it occasionally flew to
SSCA 5 ga a <

son near Colchester,
ee aced in hawking for flies over a small wood and) ncielhennieaeeee
a great height, was principally engaged in hawking for flies over < é : g = te

beine only wounded, it cried very much as it fell, and, when he took it up, clung so tightly to some clover

. . SS 3 / / Si
as to draw some stalks from the ground” (T. Catchpool, jun., in the ‘ Zoologist ’ for 1846, p. 1493).
as c cS = Be pee
If Indian, Chinese, and Australian examples are identical, as I believe they are, then the range of the
present species is wide indeed ; but possessing, as it does, vast wing-powers, there is no reason why it should
not pass and repass from one country to another with the greatest ease. Distance being mere child’s play

to a bird so largely endowed with the means of flight, its accidental occurrence in England need not excite

surprise.

Family HIRUNDINIDA.

The members of this great family of air-frequenting birds are almost universally dispersed—so much so at
least that Swallows and Martins are known to the inhabitants of most parts of the globe, except those of
New Zealand and Polynesia, where, strange to say, none are to be found.

More than a hundred species are enumerated in our lists, in which large number many variations of form
exist, each characterized by some peculiarity in habits, mode of life, kind of food they eat, construction of
nest, or mode of nidification. Three migratory species, each pertaining toa distinct genus, make our islands

a temporary resting-place during the months of summer.

Genus Hirunpo.

The species of this form, of which our common Swallow is the type, inhabit Europe, India, China, and
North America. They are distinguished for the elegance of their structure and the ease and buoyancy of

their evolutions.

50. Hirunpo rustica Vol. 1k Bae

Common Swatuow.

Comment upon this famili ies ] :
; us familiar species is . receary : : : ; after
‘ pecies 1s quite unnecessary; we all know it arrives in spring, and, after