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Lemon-scented Gum
The House Swift or Little Swift is the most well-known bird on campus. The swifts and swallows are superficially similar to each other but are in fact of different orders. The house swift is a medium-sized aerial bird with an average body length of 15 cm. These small smokey-black birds fly in flocks and, in flight, look like small anchors due to their short square tail and long narrow wings. They also make a continuous ¡¥si-si¡¦ call when flying. Named for their rapid flight, house swifts spend almost all of their life on the wing and never land on ground or perch on wires. They feed on insects which they catch in mid-air and are believed to be responsible for eliminating 10 million small insects from the campus per day. House swifts are quite common in Hong Kong, especially in the old towns of Tai Po and Yuen Long. They build nests of feathers and fine grass under the eaves and ledges of houses. The concrete-cliff walls of the University library, where over 500 house swifts have built their nests, are home to the largest swift colony in Hong Kong. You can see the nests of the house swifts if you stand on the steps by the side of the library building and look up. Just be careful of their droppings. Extracted from ¡¥CUHK Campus ¡V Trees on Campus¡¦, Chinese University Bulletin Spring/Autumn 2005
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