Swift
Nearly 20, see text.
The swifts are a family, Apodidae, of highly aerial birds. They are superficially similar to swallows, but are actually not closely related to passerine species at all; swifts are in the separate order Apodiformes, which they share with hummingbirds. The treeswifts are closely related to the true swifts, but form a separate family, the Hemiprocnidae.
The resemblances between swifts and swallows are due to convergent evolution, reflecting similar life styles based on catching insects in flight.
The family scientific name comes from the Ancient Greek απους, apous, meaning "without feet", since swifts have very short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground, clinging instead to vertical surfaces. The tradition of depicting swifts without feet continued into the Middle Ages, as seen in the heraldic martlet.
Read more about Swift: Description, Systematics and Evolution
Famous quotes containing the word swift:
“O Grub Street! how do I bemoan thee,
Whose graceless children scorn to own thee!
... Yet thou hast greater cause to be
Ashamed of them, than they of thee.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“Simile and Metaphor differ only in degree of stylistic refinement. The Simile, in which a comparison is made directly between two objects, belongs to an earlier stage of literary expression; it is the deliberate elaboration of a correspondence, often pursued for its own sake. But a Metaphor is the swift illumination of an equivalence. Two images, or an idea and an image, stand equal and opposite; clash together and respond significantly, surprising the reader with a sudden light.”
—Sir Herbert Read (1893–1968)
“Haie! Haie!
These were the swift to harry;
These the keen-scented;
These were the souls of blood.
Slow on the leash,
pallid the leash-men!”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)