42 2 CORACIIFORMES chap. 



two or four being the usual complement, though three are excep- 

 tionally found, and Macroptcryx 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 M. lo7iyipennis, M. wal- 

 lacii, M. comata, and the larger and most eastern M. 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 jSTearctic and Neotropical Eegions, 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, wintering 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. C. 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 lighter 

 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. zonaris, extending from 

 the West Indies and Mexico to Argentina, is uniform blackish- 

 brown with white collar and breast ; C. iiovae yuineae of Papua 

 is glossy greenish-blue above, and grey below, with an excep- 



