SPINE-TAILED SWALLOW. ESf 
seen either singly or in pairs sweeping up the gullies, or flying 
with immense rapidity just above the tops of the trees, their 
never-tiring wings enabling them to perform their evolutions 
in the capture of insects, and of sustaining themselves in the 
air during the entire day without cessation.’ These birds are 
supposed to roost at nights in the clefts of rocks and in 
trees. 
Male; length, eight inches; bill, short, broad at the base, 
and black; iris, hazel: in front of and over the eye is a line 
of stiff black bristly feathers; forehead, greyish white; crown 
and neck on the back, glossy brown, with purple and green 
reflections; chin, white; throat, white; breast, brown, darkest 
on the sides, which are spotted with white; back, greyish 
brown, lightest in the middle. The wings extend three inches 
beyond the end of the tail; the first and second quill feathers 
are of nearly equal length, and the longest in the wing; 
greater wing coverts, dull brown, with purple and green 
reflections, the innermost feathers being more or less white on 
the inner web; lesser wing coverts, dull brown, with purple 
and green reflections; primaries, dull brown, lightest on the 
inner web; secondaries, the same. ‘T'ail above, as the crown; 
beneath, brown; it is square in shape, the feathers ten in 
number, and the same colour as the wings; the shaft of each 
feather projects beyond the web, forming a series of spines 
about an eighth of an inch long from the middle feathers, and 
gradually shortening on the side ones. Upper tail coverts, as 
the crown; under tail coverts, white; legs, dark brown. The 
toes, which are dark brown, are placed three before and one 
behind, the latter rather on the inner side; claws, dark 
brown. 
