NEEDLE-TAILED SWIFT. ; 303 
CHATURA CAUDACUTA. 
NEEDLE-TAILED SWIFT. 
Hirundo caudacuta, Lath, Ind. Orn., Suppl. p. lvii (1801); et auctorum pluri- 
morum — (Iadde), (Schrenck), (Jerdon), (Swinhoe), (David § Oustalet), 
(Dresser), (Newton), &c. 
Hirundo fusca, Steph. Shaw’s Gen. Zool. x. p. 133 (1817). 
Cheetura australis, Steph. Shaw’s Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 2, p. 76 (1825). 
Cheetura fusca (Steph.), Steph. Shaw’s Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 2, p. 76 (1825). 
Hirundo ciris, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 541 (1826). 
Acanthylis spinicauda (Zemm.), fide Bove, Isis, 1826, p. 971. 
Cheetura macroptera, Swaims. Zool. Ill. ser. 2, i. pl. 42 (1829), 
Cheetura nudipes, Hodgs. Journ. As. Soc. Beng. v. p. 779 (1836). 
Hirundapus uudipes (Hodgs.), Hodgs. Journ. As. Soc. Beng. vy. p. 780 (1836). 
Pallene giganteus, Temm., fide Less. Compl. Buff. viii. p. 493 (1837). 
Cypselus leuconotus, Delessert, Mag. Zool. 1840, Ois. pl. 20. 
Acanthylis caudacuta (Lath.), Gray, Ann. Nat, Hist. xi. p. 194 (1848). 
Pallene macroptera (Swazns.), 
Pallene caudacuta (Lath.), ote, Isis, 1844, p. 168. 
Pallene leuconotus (Deless.), 
Acanthylis nudipes (Hodgs.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 55 (1845), 
Hemiprocne leuconotus (Deless.), Struebel, Isis, 1848, p. 362. 
Cheetura caudacuta (Lath.), Gould, Handb. B. Austr. i. p. 103 (1865). 
The Needle-tailed Swift, or White-throated Spine-tail, was first described 
by Latham in 1801] from examples obtained in Australia, whither they had 
gone to spend the winter; but it had previously been discovered by Steller 
in its breeding-quarters near Irkutsk (Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 541). 
It has been obtained twice in the British Islands. The first example was 
shot at Great Horkesley, near Colchester, on the 8th of July, 1846, and 
was examined in the flesh by Newman, Doubleday, Yarrell, and other 
ornithologists (Catchpool, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1846, p. 1492). The second example 
was shot near Ringwood in Hampshire in July 1879, and was exhibited 
at a meeting of the Zoological Society of London on the 6th of January, 
1880, when I had an opportunity of examining it (Corbin, ‘ Zoologist,’ 
1880, p. 81, pl.i.). Mr. Corbin writes :—“ On the evening of July 27th 
I saw two strange birds flying about over the river in company with 
Swifts; but they kept a long way off, so that I could see nothing very 
peculiar about them, except that they appeared to be larger than the rest 
of the company, and their flight, although resembling that of their fellows, 
was somewhat different. My curiosity was awakened, and the next evening 
I was at the same place watching for the strangers, but the dull cold 
