Common Swift

“The Swift, 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. 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 beinig 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. A common North American swift is the so-called chimney swallow, which builds its nest in chimneys."—(Charles Leonard-Stuart, 1911)

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