CH^TURA. 373 



Breeding-season. Unknown in British Guiana. 



Sest. Unrecorded in Britisli Guiana. 



J'^ggs. Undescribed from British Guiana. 



Range in JBrifish Guiana. Bartica, Kaniakiisa ( WJiitely). 



iLxtraliniital Range. Trinidad, Venezuela, East and C'entral 

 Brazil. 



Habits. Mr. Qiielch observed this species in Georgetown, and 

 remarks (Timeliri (2) v. p. 101, 1891): — "The Swifts are repre- 

 sented by one species i^Chcetura spinicauda), which is commonly 

 mistaken tor one of the Swallows, whose external appearance they 

 closely resemble, while their habits are identical. In structure, 

 however, such as in the arrangement both of the feather-tracts on 

 the body and of the muscles of the toes and wings, in their 

 nniiotched sternum or breast-bone, and in their 10-quilled tails, 

 they agree with the Humming-birds, while the Swallows are 

 exactly like the ordinary passerine birds. 



" In the Spiny-tailed Swift the wings are very long, the total 

 length of the bird from the tip of the bill to the end of the wings 

 being about 6 inches. The colour is of a prevailing bronze- black 

 above and below, the rump, throat, and spiny tail being paler. 

 1 have never seen these birds about the houses in the cit}- ; but 

 when seen in the sky, they will be distinguished by their long 

 narrow wings, and their proportionately more rapid, bat-liko 

 flight.'^ 



24^7. Clisetura guianensis. 

 Guiana Swift. 



Chcetura gvianensis Hartert, Cat. B. Brit. ]\Iu.s. xvi. p. 4SG, 1892 

 (British Guiana) ; Brabounie & Chubb, B. S. Anier. i. p. 1U3, 

 no. 980, 1912. 



Chcttura cinereiveniris (nee Scl.), Salvin, Ibis, 1885. ]). 437 (MeiTime 

 Mts., Atapm-au Biver, Boraima, 3;300ft.). 



Adult male. Head, hind-neck, upper back, wings, and tail 

 glossy bluish black ; rump, u])per tail-coverts, throat, breast, and 

 abdomen hoary-grey, paler on the chin and upper throat and 

 darker on the vent ; under tail-coverts dark bottle-green; under 

 wing-coverts blackish. 



Total length 106 mm., cuhnen 4, wing 101, tail 40, tarsus 12. 



Adidt female. Similar to the adult male. T<jtal length !()'.• mm. 

 cuhnen 4, wing 10t>, tail 4J, tarsus 13. 



