Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/519

 SWALLOW SWAN 499 lly white ; steel-blue spot on throat ; rump light chestnut, and forehead brownish white ; fil slightly notched. It is found through- t North America from ocean to ocean ; it White-bellied Swallow (Hirundo bicolor). is called republican swallow by Audubon, in allusion to the habit of associating to make their nests and rear the young. The nest is built under eaves and cornices, where it is partly sheltered from the rain ; it is made of clay and sand, the entrance near the top, shaped like an earthen retort with the neck broken off ; it is lined with straw and grass ; the eggs are white with dusky spots ; the nest is bravely defended by the parents. The white-bellied swallow or American house mar- tin (//. bicolor, Vieill.) is 6 in. long and 12| in. in alar extent, of a glossy metallic green above and white below ; it comes earlier in the spring than the others, but is not so common ; the nest is made in a hollow tree, lined with Sand Swallow (Cotyle riparia). grass and feathers, and the eggs are white with a bluish tinge ; it is as widely distributed as the others in North America, and some time before migrating southward gets very fat on myrtle berries (myriea cerifera). For the lar- gest of the American swallows, see MARTIN. The bank, sand, or river swallow belongs to the genus cotyle (Boie) ; it is the C. riparia (Boie), and the smallest of the American spe- cies, being 4f in. long and 10$ in. in alar ex- tent. The bill is very flat, and extremely wide at base, gradually narrowing toward the tip ; nostrils prominent and rounded; tail moder- ate, nearly even or very slightly forked ; tarsi rather long, with a tuft of feathers near the toes behind. It is grayish brown above, some- times approaching sooty, with paler margins ; below pure white, with a band across the breast and sides like the back. It is generally distributed over America and Europe, wher- ever there is a sandy pit or river bank ; it is the earliest to arrive in the spring, and less familiar than the other species; it hollows out a tubular gallery in the sand banks, often more than 3 ft. in length, at the end of which is a larger excavation for the nest ; it is called sand or bank martin in Europe. There is no appreciable difference between the European and American birds. SWAMMERDAM, Johannes, a Dutch entomolo- gist, born in Amsterdam in 1637, died about 1680. He studied medicine with his father and at the university of Leyden. He gave considerable attention to the natural history of insects, and made many dissections and micro- scopical examinations and a large collection of specimens. He obtained leave at Amsterdam to dissect the bodies of those who died in the hospital, and invented the mode for the prep- aration of hollow organs now usually employed in anatomy. He published a " General Histo- ry of Insects" (1669), "The Natural History of Bees" (1673), a "History of the Ephe- meras" (1675), and other works. His ento- mological collection was divided at his death and sold in small portions. Boerhaave edit- ed his works and wrote his life. An English translation of his entomological works by T. Floyd was published in 1758. SWAN, a web-footed bird of the duck family, and the type of the subfamily cygninm, em- bracing some of the largest and most graceful of aquatic birds. The bill and feet are much like those of the ducks, the former being stout, of nearly equal width throughout, and w r ith a comparatively small nail ; the neck very long, and the legs short ; wings long and powerful, second and third quills equal and longest; tail short and rounded ; eyes small and near the bill. They perform long migrations, flying in single files uniting at an acute angle ; the diet consists of grass, roots, and seeds, in search of which they submerge the head only, keeping it under water three to five minutes at a time ; they also devour aquatic worms and insects, young frogs, and probably small fish ; the in- testines are long, as in the vegetable feeders ; they are gregarious at all seasons, awkward on land, but rapid and high fliers; they are re- markably careful to keep their plumage, which