164 CYPSELIDiE. 



Genus CYPSELUS *, Illiger, 1811. 



The true Swifts have the toes as a rule all directed £or\^•ard, but 

 the first or hinder toe is reversible. They are birds of powerful 

 flight, though inferior in this respect to Chcdura. All make nests- 

 attached to rocks or buildings, or very rarely to trees. 



Fig. 48.— Left foot of C. apus, \. 



Key to the Sj)ecies. 



a. No white on rump. 



a'. Abdomen white C. melba, p. 164. 



v. Abdomen brown. 



a". General colour blackish brown C. apus, p. 165. 



b". General colour greyish brown C. murinus, p. 166. 



b. A white band across rump, 

 c'. Tail deeply forked. 



c". Larger : wing 7 C. ])adjicus, p. 167. 



d" . Smaller : wing 6 C. leuconyx, p. 167. 



d'. Tail even or nearly even. 



e". Lower tail-coverts greyish brown, paler 



than abdomen C. affinis, p. 1G8. 



/". Lower tail-coverts blackish brown like 



abdomen C, subfurcatus, p. 169, 



1068. Cypselus melba. Tlie Alpine Swift. 



Hirundo melha, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i, p. 345 (1766). 



Hirundo alpina, Scop. Ann. i, p. 166 (1769). 



Cypselus melba, Illiger, Prodr. p. 230; Blyth, Cat. p. 85; Layard, 

 A. M. N. H. (2) xii, p. 167 ; Adams, P. Z. 8. 1859, p. 175 : 

 Jerdon, B. I. i,p. 175; id. Ibis, 1871, p. 354 ; Stoliczlca, J. A. S. B. 

 xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 18 ; McMaster, J. A. S. B. xl, pt. 2, p. 208 ; 

 Butler, S. F. iii, p. 453 ; v, p. 218 ; ix, p. 379 ; Blanford, S. K 

 y, p. 245 ; Davidson &• Wenden, 8. F. vii, p. 77 ; Ball, ibid. 

 p. 202 ; Hume, Cat. no. 98 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 317 ; Vidal, 

 8. F. ix, p. 43 ; Davidson, 8. F. x, p. 293 ; id. Jour. Bom, N. H. 



* The name Micropus, Meyer and Wolf, 1810, which has one year's priority 

 over Cypselus has oeen substituted for the latter by some writers, and especially 

 by Mr. Hartert in the British Museum Catalogue, vol. xvi. But the existence 

 of a Linua^an genus Micropus in Botany affords a fair reason for adhering to 

 the well-known name of Cypselus for typical Swifts. The generic name 

 Micropus (1837) used by Sharpe and Gates {ante, Vol. I. p. 294) for a genus of 

 Bulbuls, is of later date than Meyer and Wolf's genus, and must be changed to 

 Microtarsus, Eyton (1839). 



