BEE-EATEES A^^D SWALLOWS. 
11 
thrown into the ten principal quills, which are those 
chiefly employed in all birds to cut the am, but which 
in the present family are most particularly adapted 
for that purpose.* 
The tails of the Swallows are produced, in general 
very stiff, and in most of the species very much forked. 
All the extremities of their apparatus of flight are in 
fact pointed, and they can turn on these points in a 
very singular manner, flying horizontally, or on edge, 
or at any intermediate angle, apparently with equal 
ease. The power of the tail appears to give them as 
much facility of ascent and descent as they have 
rapidity in forward flight ; and as their prey is much 
more minute than that of even the smallest of the 
diurnal Accipitres, they are endowed with correspond- 
ing capacities for finding it. 
It is natural to suppose that their sight is very 
acute. Their feet are extremely small and feeble as 
compared with the power of their wings, but they are 
not walking birds, and rarely alight upon the ground. 
Some of them have the feet with all the four toes 
to the front, or, 
rather all so 
placed that the 
claws shall press 
toward the cen- 
tre of the foot, 
where the joints 
of the legs are 
bent.* Their 
bills are short. 
Nat, Hist, and Classification of Birds. t British Cyclopedia. 
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