Catesby, Mark. Appendix Pl. 8, The American Swallow and lily

Mark Catesby (1638 - 1749)Etching with hand color, paper dimensions: approximately 14 x 19 inchesFrom the Appendix (Part 11) to Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida & the Bahama IslandsLondon: 1747 - 1771 Currently known as the chimney swift, Chaetura pelagica and wood lily, Lilium philadelphicum*, Catesby described these subjects as follows: HIRUNDO CAUDA  ACULEATA AMERICANA. The American Swallow. This is a little less than the English House-Swallow but very like it in shape. It is all over of a brown colour, except that the under-part of the body and tail is of a lighter brown; particularly the throat is almost white. The Cock has some feathers faintly stained with purple, except which he differs not in colour from the Hen. The singularity of this Bird is, that the shafts of the tail-feathers are very stiff, sharp-pointed, and bare of feathers at their ends, which seem designed by Nature for the support of their bodies, while they are in an erect posture building their