456 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS -PICABI2E — CYPSELIFORMES. 



widening behind, its posterior margin entire; furculum stont, ratlier U- than V-sliaped. Oil- 

 gland nude. No cceca. Leg-muscles anomalogonatous (p. 195) ; femor(.i-caudal present, but 

 accessory femoro-eaudal, semitendinosus, acceesory semitendinosus and ambiens absent. Eggs 

 several, narrowly oval, white. 



" One of the most remarkable points in the structure of the Cijpselidce is the great devel- 

 opment of the salivary glands. In all the species of which the nidification is known, the 

 secretion thus produced is used more or less in the construction of the nest. In most cases it 

 forms a glue by which the other materials are joined together, and the whole nest is affixed to a 

 rock, wall, or other object against which it is placed. In some species of CoUocalia, however, 

 the whole nest is made up of inspissated saliva, and becomes the ' edible bird's nest ' so well 

 known in the East." (Sclater.) 



A well-defined family of 6 or b genera and about 50 species, inhabiting temperate and warm 

 parts of the globe. They are rather small birds, of plain plumage, closely resembling swallows 

 in superficial respects, but with no real affinity to these Oscines. Notwithstanding the utmost 

 difference in the shape of the bill, the real affinities are with the tenuirostral Trochilidce in 

 every structural piecuHarity. They are birds of extraordinary volitorial ability, being only sur- 

 passed in this respect by the hummers themselves. The family is divisible into two subfami- 

 lies, according to the structure of the feet. 



Analysis of Subfamilies and Genera. 

 CVPSELIN^. Front toes with 3 joints apiece. Hind toe lateral or versatile. Tarsi featliered. 



Toes feathered. Tail not spiny Panyptila 131 



Ch^turin.e. Front toes with 3, 4, and 5 joints from inner to outer. Hind toe posterior or lateral, but 

 not reversed. Tarsi and toes naked. 



Tail emarginate, not mucrouate NephtKcetes 132 



TaU rounded, mucronate Chaitura 133 



31. Subfamily CYPSELIN/E: Typical Swifts. 



Eatio of the phalanges abnormal, the 3d and 4th toes having each 3 joints like the 2d ; 

 basal phalanges of all the anterior toes very short (fig. 40). Hind toe reversed (in Cypselus, 

 where nearly all the species belong), or lateral (in Panyptild). Tarsi feathered (in Cypselus) ; 

 toes also feathered (in Panyptila). Contains only these two genera and nearly half the species 

 of the family. Of Panyptila there are only three well-determined species, all American ; while 

 Cypselus has upward of twenty, mostly of the Old World ; the three or four American ones 

 being sometimes detached under the name of Tachornis. 



131. PANY'PTILA. (Gr. nam, panu, much, very; nTiKov, ptilon, wing : in allusion to the length 

 of wing.) EoCK Swifts. Tail about i as long as wing, forked, with stiffish and narrowed, 

 but not spiny feathers. Wing pointed by the 2d primary, the 1st decidedly shorter. Tarsi 

 feathered to the toes ; these also feathered to some extent. Hind toe elevated, lateral, but not 

 reversible. Front toes with slight basal webs. Eyelids naked. Colors black and white. 



403. P. saxa'tilis. (Lat. saxatiKs, rock-inhabiting ; saxum, a rock.) White-throated Eock 

 Swift. Black or blackish ; chin, throat, breast, and middle line of belly, tips of secondaries, 

 edge of outer primary and lateral tail-feathers, and a flank-patch, white. Forehead and line 

 over eye pale ; a velvety black space before eye. BOl black ; feet drying yellowish. The 

 purity of the color varies with the wear of the feathers, some specimens being duU sooty 

 brovraish, others more purely and even glossy blackish. The extent of the white along the 

 belly is very variable. The flank-patches are conspicuous, in life sometimes almost meeting 

 over the rump. Length 6.50-7.00 ; extent about 14.00 : wing the same as total length ; tail 

 about 2.66, forked, soft. Southwestern U. S. and southward, breeding in colonies on cliffs ; a 

 large and beautiful swift — a high-flier of almost incredible velocity, with a loud shrill twitter, 

 nesting in the most inaccessible places, sometimes by thousands. The eggs do not appear to 

 have been taken yet, but are presumed to be white, as in all the species the eggs of which are 

 known. Found N. to Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada. 



