MACROPTERYGIN^. 511 



feathers of the rump -with small white edges ; upper wing-coverts 

 with obsolete pale brown edges ; feathers in front of the eye 

 blackish, with white bases ; chin, sides of head, and neck brownish 

 grej' ; throat dirt}^ white ; breast and abdomen white ; under tail- 

 coverts white, with dark patches along the shafts, longest entirely 

 glossy blackish ; rectrices, except central, with long white, sharply- 

 defined spots, occupying nearly the entire basal half of the inner 

 web. Total length nearly 4 inches, wing 3"8, tail 1'6. 

 Hab. Timor. 



a. Ad, sk. Timor ( Wallace). Gould Coll. 



b, c, d. Ad. sk. E. Timor. Wallace Coll. 



(Types of the species.) 



13. Collocalia natalis. 



CoUocalia natalis, Lister, P. Z. S. 1888, p. 250. 



Adult. Similar to C. neglecta, from which it differs only in having 

 a very dark, almost blackish chin and upper throat ; the white spots 

 on the basal half of outer rectrices merging into the dark colour, 

 especially on the under surface ; the dark patches on the under tail- 

 coverts broader, and the white edges of the rump-feathers a little 

 larger. Wing 4-8 inches. 



Hah. Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, south of Western 

 Java. 



a, b. Ad. sk. Christmas Island, October 1. J. J. Lister, Esq. [P.]. 



(Types of the species.) 



Subfamily III. MACROPTERYGINiE. 



The external characters by which this subfamily is distinguished 

 are given in the key to the subfamilies of the Ciipselidce. It con- 

 sists of only one genus, which stands by itself among the Cypselidce. 

 In the softness of its plumage and the form of some of the bones of 

 the skull it somewhat resembles the Caprinndgldte. On the flanks 

 there is a patch of silky downy feathers, not found in any other 

 species of C'upseh'd(P. In all the species of the genus Macropteryx 

 some feathers of the bead, either moustache-stripes, superciliary 

 stripes, or feathers of the crown, are obviously elongated. The 

 plumage of the nestling is quite different from the adult, while in 

 the members of the subfamily Cypselince it differs only slightly from 

 the adult, and differs in no perceptible way in the members of the 

 subfamily Chaturiiuv. The sexes are perceptibly different. 



The nidification of these birds is most interesting — the very small 

 nest, containing a single egg — and differing entirelj' from that of all 

 the other Swifts, reminding one strikingly of that of Batrachostomus. 



