266 



NEEDLE-TAILED SWIFT. 



the Amur River, as well as about Lake Hanka, near Vladivostok, on 

 the Sea of Japan. It is also met with in Mongolia, Manchuria, and 

 the mountains of the Chinese Empire ; while in the cold season it 

 migrates as far as Eastern Australia and Tasmania. It is said to 

 return to its breeding-quarters about the end of April or early in 

 May ; departing for the south in August and September ; and 

 Prjevalsky has described its bands as passing overhead in an almost 

 incessant stream at the time of the autumn migration in Mongolia. 

 In the Himalayas and Assam the representative species is A. nudipes. 



Several pairs are stated by the above-mentioned Russian explorer 

 to breed in close proximity, the nests being placed in cliffs, or in 

 hollow trees ; the eggs are probably white. The food consists of 

 insects ; the note is described as feeble ; while all observers agree in 

 eulogizing the unrivalled vigour of the bird's flight. Gould remarks 

 that the keel of the breast in this species is more than ordinarily 

 deep, and that the pectoral muscles are more developed than in any 

 bird of the same weight with which he was acquainted. 



The adult has the forehead dull white ; crown, nape and sides of 

 the head dusky black, with a greenish gloss ; back dusky brown, paler 

 in the middle ; wing-coverts and secondaries bottle-green ; inner 

 secondaries chiefly white on the inner webs ; primaries blackish ; 

 tail-feathers bottle-green, with projecting spinous shafts; throat, breast 

 and under tail-coverts white ; belly sooty-brown ; lower flanks white, 

 mixed with glossy blue-black ; bill black ; legs and feet dark brown, 

 with one claw directed backwards : in which respect birds of this 

 genus differ from the true Swifts. Length 8 in. ; wing S'l in. 



The vignette below represents the head and left foot of the Night- 

 jar, the next species. 



