NATURE STUDY. 



Volume I. JUNE - JULY, 1899. Numbers 5-6 



THE SWALLOWS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 



BY 



C. J. Maynard. 



The swallows, as a family, are so well known that I 

 scarcely need give their characteristics. Their gliding flight 

 and the graceful aerial evolutions that they execute with 

 the long wings, which are especially adapted for this pur- 

 pose, serve at once to distinguish the swallows from all other 

 land birds. 



To be sure the chimney swift, sometimes erroneously 

 called the chimney swallow, often has a gliding flight, but 

 as will be seen upon reading an article upon this subject 

 in the February number of Nature Study, the swift flies 

 with its primaries, or hand, while the swallows use the whole 

 arm or entire wing. That is, the swift moves the tip of 

 the wing in a quick, fluttering manner, while the swallow 

 gives a longer, more graceful movement. Although both 

 swallow and swift have short, triangular beaks, and wide 

 gapes to aid in catching insects when in swift motion, there 

 is no relationship between the two groups of birds. The 

 swallows are singing perchers modified for rapid flight, while 

 the swifts are derived from some widely different ancestors. 

 In passing, I will say that the swifts and humming-birds are 



