MICROPODHXE THE SWIFTS. 863 



FAMILY MICROPODIDJE. THE SWIFTS. 



"CHAK. Bill very small, without notch, triangular, much broader than high; the cul- 

 men one sixth the gape. Anterior toes cleft to the base, each with three joints (in the 

 typical species), and covered with skin or feathers; the middle claw without any serra- 

 tions; the lateral toes nearly equal to the middle. Bill without bristles, but without 

 minute feathers extending: along the under margin of the nostrils. Tail feathers ten. 

 Nostrils elongated, superior and very close together. Plumage compact. Primaries ten, 

 elongated, falcate. 



The MicropodidcB (formerly Cypselida), or Swifts, "are Swallow-like 

 birds, generally of rather dull plumage and medium size. They 

 were formerly associated with the true Swallows on account of 

 their small, deeply cleft bill, wide gape, short feet, and long wings. 

 but are very different in all the essentials of structure, belonging, 

 indeed, to a very different order or suborder. The bill is much 

 smaller and shorter ; the edges greatly inflected ; the nostrils supe- 

 rior, instead of lateral, and without bristles. The wing is more 

 falcate, with ten primaries instead of nine. The tail has ten 

 feathers instead of twelve. The feet are weaker, without distinct 

 scutellae ; the hind toe is more or less versatile, the anterior toes 

 frequently lack the normal number of joints, and there are other 

 features which clearly justify the wide separation here given espe- 

 cially the difference in the vocal organs. Strange as the statement 

 may appear, their nearest relatives are the Trochilidce, or Hum- 

 mingbirds, notwithstanding the bills of the two are as opposite in 

 shape as can readily be conceived." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



The Swifts are as poorly represented in eastern North America 

 as the Hummingbirds, Only a single species (the common Chimney 

 Swift, Chcetvra pelaglca), occuring east of the Kocky Mountains. 

 The family is of cosmopolitan range, species occurring in nearly all 

 parts of the world. 



GENUS CH-3JTURA STEPHENS. 



Chcetura STEPHENS, Shaw's Gen. Zool., Birds, xiii.ii, 1825, 76. Type Hirundo pelagica 

 LINN. 



"GEN. CHAK. Tail very short, scarcely more than two fifths the wiugs; slightly 

 rounded; the shafts stiffened and extending some beyond the feathers in a rigid spine. 



