Common swift( Apus apus)
From wikipedia
The common swift( Apus apus) is a medium-sized bird, superficially similar to the barn swallow or house martin but somewhat larger, though not stemming from those passerine species, being in the order Apodiformes. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution, reflecting similar contextual development. The swifts ' nearest relatives are thought [ by whom?] to be the New World hummingbirds and the Southeast Asian treeswifts. Its scientific name Apus is Latin for a swift, thought by the ancients to be a type of swallow with no feet( from Ancient Greek α, a, " without ", and πούς, pous, " foot ").[ 2 ] Swifts have very short legs which they use primarily for clinging to vertical surfaces( hence the German name Mauersegler, literally meaning " wall-glider "). They never settle voluntarily on the ground, where they would be vulnerable to accidents and predation, and non-breeding individuals may spend up to ten months in continuous flight.[ 3 ]
Taxonomy [ edit ] The common swift was one of the many species described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1 758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He introduced the binomial name Hirundo apus.[ 4 ] The current genus Apus was erected by the Italian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoliin 1 777 based on tautonymy.[ 5 ][ 6 ] The word apus is the Latin word for a swift. It is derived from the Ancient Greek α, a, " without ", and πούς, pous, " foot ", based on the belief that these birds were a form of swallow that lacked feet.[ 2 ] The predecessor of the Central European subspecies which lived during the last ice age has been described as Apus apus palapus.
Description [ edit ] Common swifts are 1 6 – 1 7 cm( 6.3 – 6.7 in) long with a wingspan of 38 – 40 cm( 1 5 – 1 6 in)[ 7 ] and entirely blackish-brown except for a small white or pale grey patch on their chins which is not visible from a distance. They have a short forked tail and very long swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a boomerang.