256 



NEEDLE-TAILED SWIFT. 



the mountainous regions of China, Tibet, and the eastern Hima- 

 layas; while in the cold season it migrates southwards as far as 

 Eastern Australia and Tasmania. It is said to return to its breeding- 

 quarters about the end of April or early in May ; departing for the 

 south in August and September ; and General Prjevalsky has 

 described its bands as passing over-head in an almost incessant 

 stream at the time of the autumn migration in Mongolia. 



Several pairs are stated by the above-mentioned Russian e.xplorer 

 to breed in close proximity, the nests being placed in cliffs and in 

 hollow trees ; but nothing is as yet known of its eggs, which are 

 probably white. The food consists of insects ; the note is described 

 as feeble ; while all observers agree in eulogizing the unrivalled 

 vigour of the bird's flight. Gould remarks that the keel of the 

 breast in this species is more than ordinarily deep, and that the pec- 

 toral muscles are more developed than in any bird of its weight 

 with which he was acquainted. 



The adult has the forehead dull white ; crown, nape and sides of 

 the head dusky-black with a greenish gloss ; back dusky-brown, 

 paler in the middle ; wing- coverts and secondaries bottle-green ; 

 inner secondaries chiefly white on the inner webs ; primaries 

 blackish ; tail-feathers bottle-green with projecting spinous shafts ; 

 throat, breast and under tail-coverts white ; belly sooty-brown ; 

 lower flanks white, mixed with glossy blue-black ; bill black ; legs 

 and feet dark brown, with one claw directed backwards, in whicli 

 respect birds of this genus differ from the true Swifts. Length 

 8-5 ; wing 8-1 in. 



The vignette below represents the head and foot of the Nightjar, 

 the next species. 



