422 CORACITFORMES CHAP. 
two or four being the usual complement, though three are excep- 
tionally found, and Macropteryx lays only one. 
Sub-fam. 1. Macropteryginae—The Tree-Swifts, as they are 
called, have very soft plumage, a long, deeply-forked tail, a patch 
of downy feathers on the flanks, and elongated plumage on the top 
or sides of the head. They range from India and Ceylon through the 
Burmese and Malay countries, and the islands thence to the Solomon 
Group. Macropteryx coronata of India, Ceylon, Burma, and Siam 
has bluish ash-coloured upper parts, glossed with metallic green, 
especially on the crested head, wings, and tail; the under surface 
is greyish and white, the chin and ear-coverts are rufous. The 
female lacks the chestnut. The nest is a half saucer of bits of 
bark and feathers, gummed by saliva to a branch some twenty feet 
from the ground, trees being usually selected in rough jungle 
on low hills. It contains one egg, and is so small that the sitting 
bird quite conceals it. Other species are Jf. longipennis, M. wal- 
lacir, M. comata, and the larger and most eastern JZ mystacea. 
Sub-fam. 2. Chaeturinae.—Of the three genera, Chaetura, 
Cypseloides, and Collocalia, the first occurs from Central Asia and 
India to Japan, New Guinea and Australia; in Tropical Africa; and 
in the Nearctic and Neotropical Regions, except the extreme north 
and south. All the species, numbering about fifty, have rigid tail- 
feathers with more or less projecting spiny shafts, save in Collocalia. 
Chaetura caudacuta, which has strayed to Britain and New 
Zealand, ranges from Mongolia and Japan to China and _ the 
Eastern Himalayas, wintermg southwards to Australia and 
Tasmania. It is dusky-brown with greenish-black head, wings, 
and tail, white forehead and breast. The nest, placed on cliffs or 
in hollow trees, is probably similar to that of the next species, 
several pairs nidificating together. ©. pelagica, the “ Chimney 
Swallow” of the United States, chiefly found in the east, but 
extending to the Fur Countries and the Great Plains, and in 
winter at least to Mexico and Yucatan, is dark grey, with hehter 
lower surface, blackish head and wings. It has almost ceased to 
breed in trees, but fastens its semicircular nest of small twigs, 
glued together with salivary secretion, to the inside of chimneys, 
laying from four to six white eggs. C. zonavis, extending from 
the West Indies and Mexico to Argentina, is uniform blackish- 
brown with white collar and breast; C. novae guineae of Papua 
is glossy greenish-blue above, and grey below, with an excep- 
