288 AVES. 



and external ones consist each of three phalanges like the internal 



one. 



The shortness of their humerus, the breadth of its apophyses, 

 their oval fourchette, their sternum not emarginate beneath, all in- 

 dicate, even in the skeleton, their fitness for vigorous flight; but the 

 shortness of their feet, together with the length of their wings, pre- 

 vents them, when on the ground, from rising, and consequently they 

 pass their lives, if I may so express it, in the air, pursuing in flocks, 

 and with loud cries, their insect prey through the highest regions 

 of the atmosphere. They nestle in holes of walls, or fissures in 

 rocks, and climb along the smoothest surfaces with great rapidity. 



The common species, Hirundo apus, L., Enl. 541, 1, is black, 

 with a white throat. 



That from high mountains, Hirundo melba, L.; Edw. 27; Vaill. 

 Afr. 243; Vieill. Gal. 121, is larger, brown above, and white be- 

 neath, with a brown collar under the neck.(l) 



Hirundo, Cuv. 



The Swallows proper have the toes and sternum disposed like 

 those of the Passerinae generally. In some of them the feet are in- 

 vested with feathers down to the nails; the thumb still exhibits a 

 disposition to incline forward; the tail is forked, and of a moderate 

 size. 



H. urbica, L.; Hirondelle defenetre^ Enl. 542, 2. The Mar- 

 tin.) Black above; underneath, and the rump, white. The 

 substantial nest it constructs of earth, at the angles of windows, 

 under eaves of houses, &c. is well known to every one.(2) 

 Others have naked toes, and the forks of the tail very often ex- 

 tremely long. 



H. rustica, Enl. 543, 1. (The Chimney Swallow.) Black 

 above; forehead, eyebrows, and throat, red, all the remaining 

 under part Avhite. The name is derived from its usual place of 

 residence. 



H. riparia; Hirondelle de rivage; Enl. 453, 2. (The Sand 

 Martin.) Above, and the breast brown; the throat, and under- 

 neath, white. It lays in holes along the banks of rivers. That 



(1) Add Hir. sinensis; the Martinet d croupe blanche, Vaill. Afr. 244, 1? 

 the Martinet velocifere. Id. lb. 244, 2^ the Martinet d moustaches {Cyps. mysta- 

 ceus, Less, and Garn. ), Voy. de la Coquille, No. 122 ; the M. coiff^ (C. comatus, 

 T.), Col. 268 ; the M. longipenne (Hir. longipennis, T.), Col. 83, 1. [Add Cyps. 

 pelagicus, Wils. V, pi. xxxix, f. 1. .Sm. Ed.} 



(2) Add Hirundo cayennensis, Enl. 725, 2 ; Hir. ludoviciana, Nob. Enl. 725, 1, 

 and Catesby, 1, 51 Hir. montana; the same as the rupestris- 



