428 



NORTH AMERICAN BLRDS. 



(Jems 



Baird. 



Ncphacctes, Baird, Birds X. Am. ISiiS, 142. (Type, llirundo nujra, Gmel.) 



Gen. Char. Tail rather less than half the wings ; quite fleeply forked (less so in the 

 female) ; the leathers obtusely aeuminate ; the shafts scarcely stilfened. First quill 

 longest. Tarsi and toes completely bare, and covered with naked skin, without distinct 

 indications of scutella?. Tarsus rather lunger than middle toe ; the three anterior toes 

 about equal, with moderately stout claws. Claw of middle toe nnich ^shorter than its 



11871 



Nephrrrftes niqer. 



digit. Hind toe not versatile, but truly posterior and opposite, with its. claw rather 

 longer than the middle toe without it. Toes all slender ; claws moderate. Nostrils 

 widely ovate, the feathers margining its entire lower edge. 



The comparative characters of this genus wiU be foiiiul in the diagnostic 



tables at the liead of the 

 family. According to 

 Sclater, Ctjpseloides of 

 Streubel (Isis, 1848, 

 366) with C.fumigatus 

 as type, r^iy h*ive to be 

 taken for this genus, as 

 it was named by Streu- 

 bel as an alternative 

 to Hemiprornc, which 

 belongs to Chaiura. 

 Until this question 



of svnonvmv can be 

 decided positively, we retain Xephfrcctes. 



The single Xortli American species, X. nirfcr, has a singular distribution, 



being abundant near Puget Sound in summer, and again found in Jamaica 



and Cuba, without having been met with in any intermediate locality, 



except in the Province of Huatasco, Mex. The West India specimens are 



rather smaller, but otherwise not distiufniishable. 



Nepkacetes niger. 



