Plate LII. 



CHtETURA semicollaris, 



(HALF-COLLAEED SPmE-TAILED SWIFT). 



Acanthylis semicollaris . . . . De Saussure, Eev. Zool. 1859, p. 118. 



Ch<Btura semicollaris . . . Sclater, Cat. A. B. p. 282 : P.Z.S. 1863, p. 99, et 1865, p. 609. 



Fuscescenti-nigra : torque semicoUari postico albo : long, tota 10, alse 10, caudae 3, tarsi 1"05. 

 Hah. Mexico (De Saussure). 



This fine Spine-tailed Swift is closely allied in structure to the well-known and widely 

 distributed Chcetura zonaris^ but considerably exceeds it in size, and is, in fact, the largest and 

 most powerful bird of the whole family. It appears to be very scarce in European collections ; 

 the sjDecimen in Sclater's possession, whence our figure is taken, being the only one we have yet 

 met with. This is the more to be wondered at, as the country which it inhabits has lately been 

 explored by several intelligent collectors, who could hardly have passed over so striking a species 

 had it come before their notice. 



M. H. de Saussure— the discoverer and describer of this species — gives us no information 

 concerning it, except that it inhabits the " great forests of Mexico." He has not even thought 

 fit to record the province of that extensive country in which it was obtained. His specimens 

 were deposited in the Geneva Museum, from which Sclater's example was obtained by purchase. 



A complete account of the synonymy and distribution of the American species of this 

 group having been lately published by Sclater in the Zoological Society's " Proceedings,"* we 

 think it will be sufficient on the present occasion to give a list of them in a tabular form, 

 inserting in their places two species more recently described : namely C. sclateri^ Pelzeln, Om. 

 Bras. p. 66, from the vicinity of Borba, and C. hrachycerca^ Scl. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 758, t. 

 xxxiv, from Xeberos. . ^ 



a. Hemipeocne. 



1. C. semicollaris (De Saussure), es Mexico, I. c. p. 609. 



2. C. liscutata, Sclater, ex Brasil. mer, or. I. e. p. 609. 



3. C. zonaris (Shaw), ex Am. merid. et centr. I. c. p. 609. 



h. Chjbtitea. 



4. C. pelasgia (L.), ex Am. bor. orient. I. c. p. 610. 



5. C. vauxii (Towns.), ex Am. bor. oce. et central!, I. c. 611. 



6. O. poliura (Temm.), ex Cayenna, I. c. p. 611. 



7. C. brachycerca, Scl. et Salv., ex Amazonia Peruv. 



8. G. cinereiventris, Scl., ex Brasil. mer. or. I. c. p. 612. 



9. C. sclateri, v. Pelz., ex Amazonia. 



10. C. spinicauda (Temm.), ex Cayenna, I. c. p. 612. 



11. C. rutila (Vieill.), ex Guatemala et Mexico, I. c. p. 613. 



* 1865, p. 593 et seq. 

 July, 1868. 



[ 103 ] 



