Conjoined barn swallows cause stir in Arkansas

It's an Arkansas bird story that at first might be hard to swallow. A pair of conjoined barn swallows, attached at the hip by skin and possibly muscle tissue, will be sent to the Smithsonian Institution for study and examination, Arkansas wildlife officials said Friday. If confirmed, officials say it could prove to be an incredibly rare find — a set of conjoined twins among birds.
"I can't even say it's one in a million — it's probably more than that," said Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. "There's just to no records of such a thing."
The birds, found by a landowner in White County earlier this week, fell out of a nest as a healthy sibling flew off to learn how to hunt with its parents, Rowe said. The birds first appeared to have only three legs, but further examination found a fourth leg tucked up underneath the skin connecting the pair.