CHATURA macroptera. 
Long-winged Sivift. 
Family Hirundinide. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Bill entire, the sides much compressed, the culmen arched. The 
lower mandible recurved at the tip. Wings very long. Tail 
scansorial, the extremity of the shafts naked, and acute. Tarsi 
naked, the three anterior toes and claws nearly equal; hind 
toe not versatile. Nob. 
Type. Cheiura pelasgia. Stevens. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Brown: wings and tail glossed with greenish blue; back grey- 
white: chin and under tail covers snowy ; tail even. 
Ob. Tail 33 in. longer than the wings, the two first quills longest 
and equal. 
— ee 
For an inspection of this new and imposing species, we 
have to thank Mr. Ward, an Animal preserver of considera- 
ble talent. We do not find it mentioned in any Ornitholo- 
gical work we possess, and our library is not small: but 
with so many publications continually issuing from the 
continental press, we shall feel no surprise at discovering 
it has already been published. 
This and the Hirundo albicollis, (first named by M. 
Vieillot) are two of the largest species yet discovered, of a 
very singular group of Swifts ; wherein the tail feathers are 
spined, and even more rigid than those of the Woodpeckers : 
by this structure the birds can remain for a considerable 
time in the most perpendicular situations. The expanded 
tail thus acts as a powerful support, which is further in- 
creased by the size and strength of the claws, much larger 
than those of ordinary Swallows. ‘There are several species, 
most of which are natives of America. 
The direct analogy which this group bears to the typical 
scansorial Birds, joined to the general superiority of flight 
which the Swift possesses over the Swallow, leads us to 
suspect this may prove to be the typical group of the Fissi- 
rostres ; an order in which Nature, in her wish to develope 
the greatest powers of flight, appears to neglect all those 
laws which she afterwards so rigidly adheres to: We in- 
tend in another work, to enter on this interesting subject 
more fully. 
Our figure is in strict conformity with the scale on the 
plate, which is that of an inch. 
