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Swift (Hirundo apus of Linn us ern)

the Hirundo apus of Linnæus ern ornithologists. Though swifts are like swallows in many respects, their structure is almost entirely different, and some naturalists rather class them with the humming birds or the goat suckers.

The swift has all four toes directed forward; it is larger than the swallow; its flight is more rapid and steady; and its scream is very different from the twittering of the swallow. It has the greatest powers of flight of any bird that visits Great Britain. Its weight is most disproportionately small to its extent of wing, the former being scarcely an ounce, the latter 18 inches, the length of the body being about 8 inches. Its color is a somber or sooty black, a whitish patch appearing beneath the chin. It builds in holes in the roofs of houses, in towers, or in hollow trees. It leaves Great Britain in August, having arrived from Africa early in May. The C. the lower parts dusky white, has its home in the mountainous parts of Central and Southern Europe. A common North American swift is the co-called which builds its nest in chimneys (see the genus Collocalia, which inhabit chiefly the islands of the Indian Ocean from the N. of Madagascar E., construct the edible birds'-nests which are used by