434 cyrsELiDiE. 



Suborder CORACIyE. 



Hallux counectcd with the flexor perforans dujitormn, aud not 

 with ihn Jlcxor liuUiwis loiigus. 



Spinal feather-tract well defined on the neck by lateral bare 

 tracts, but dividing into two tracts on the upper back. 



Oil-gland nude, if present. 



Young hatched helpless. 



{See Seebohm, Classific. Birds, 1890, p. 21.) 



Synopsis of the Families. 



a. Palate segithognathous Cypselidse (xvi. p. 434). 



h. Palate schizognathous ........ Caprimulgidse (xvi. p. 519). 



c. Palate desmoguathous. 



«', Basipterygoid processes pre- 

 sent SteatornithidaB(xvi. p. 653.; 



6'. Basipterygoid processes absent 

 or rudimentary. 

 a". Tail-feathers ten; oil-gland 



absent Podargidae (xvi. p. 629). 



h". Tail-feathers twelve ; oil- 

 gland nude. A large 

 powder-down patch on each 



side of the rump Leptosomatidae (xvii. p. 1). 



c". Tail-feathers twelve. No 

 powder-down patch on the 



sides of the rump CoraciidSB (xvii. p. 4). 



d'. Tail-feathers ten ; oil-gland 



nude MeropidsB (xvii. p. 41), 



Family CYPSELIDSE. 



(By ERNST HAETEET.) 



The Swifts have only ten primaries and always less than nine 

 secondaries ; the wing is very long and pointed. The number of 

 rectrices is always ten, while the Swallows have invariably twelve. 

 Feathers with a small but well-defined aftershaft. The sternum is 

 very characteristic, having a high keel aud an uunotched posterior 

 margin. The humerus is very short, the forearm longer and the 

 hand extremely long. Number of phalanges of outer and median 



