SHARP-TAILED SWALLOW. 131 



wall with their strong muscular feet, and in this 

 situation continue to be fed by the old ones for a 

 week or more. 



This bird is easily distinguished from the other 

 Swallows by its peculiarity of flight, frequently 

 shooting swiftly in various directions, without any 

 apparent motion of its wings, and uttering the 

 sounds tsip tsip tsip tsee tsee in a hurried manner. 

 In roosting, the thorny extremities of its tail are 

 thrown out for its support. It never alights but 

 in hollow trees and chimneys, and is always most 

 gay and active during wet and gloomy weather, 

 and is the earliest abroad in the morning and 

 latest out in the evening of any of the North 

 American Swallows. It departs from Pennsylva- 

 nia, the first or second week in September, towards 

 the south. 



SHARP-TAILED SWALLOW. 

 (Hirundo acuta.) 



Hi. nigra subtusfttsca, gula. grisea, rectricibus amce nudo subu- 



latis. 

 Black Swallow, beneath brown, with the throat grey, and the 



tail-feathers naked and sharp-pointed at their tips. 

 Hirundo acuta. Gmel. Syst. Xat. 1. 1C23. Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. 



581. 31. 



Hirundo martinicana. Briss. 1. 409. 8. t. 45. f. 2. 

 L'Hirondelle noire acutipenne de la Martinique. Buff. Hut. 



Nat. Ois. 6. 702. Bujf. PL Enl. 544. f. 1. 

 Sharp-tailed Swallow. Lath. Gen. Syn. 4. 584. 33. 



