1 



182 OrPSELIDiE, SWIFTS. GEN. 116. 



tigated its relationships to tlie South American form. Lawr., Ann. Lye. v. 

 1851, lU; Cass., 111. 238; Bd., 154; Coop., 314 texensis. 



Family CYPSELID^. Swifts. 



Fissirostrcd Picariw. : bill very small, flattened, triangular when vieived from 

 above, Tvith great gape reaching below the e3'os. Wings extremely long, thin and 

 pointed (frequently as long as the whole bird) ; the secondaries extremely short 

 (nine?). Tail of ten rectrices, variable in shape. Feet small, weak ; tarsi naked or 

 feathered ; hind toe frequently elevated, or versatile, or permanently turned side- 

 ■vvays or even forward ; anterior toes completely cleft, the basal phalanges extremely 

 short, the penultimate very long, the number of phalanges frequently abnormal ; 

 claws sharp, curved, never pectinate. Sternum deep-keeled, widening behind, its 

 posterior margin entire. Eggs narrowly oval, white. For pterylosis see plate i. 



"One of the most remarkable points in the structure of the Cypselidce is the 

 great development of the salivary glands. In all the species of which the nidifi- 

 cation is known, the secretion thus produced is used more or less in the construc- 

 tion 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 Collocalia, however, the whole nest is made 

 np of inspissated saliva, and becomes the 'edible bird's-nest' so well known in the 



East." (SCLATER.) 



A well defined family of six or eight genera and about fift}' 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 

 atHnitj' to these Oscines. The family is divisible into two subfamilies, according to 

 the structure of the feet. 



H 



Subfamily GYPSELINJE. Typical Swifts. 



><^f\ 



Eatio of the phalanges abnormal, the 3d and 4th toes having each 

 3 joints like the 2d ; hind toe reversed (in Cypselus, where nearly 

 all the species belong) or lateral (in Panyptila) ; tarsi feathered 

 Fio. 118. Bones (in Cypselus) ; toes also feathered (in Panyptila). Contains only 

 foot. 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 twent}^, mostly of the Old World ; the three or four American 

 ones are sometimes detached under the name of Tachornis. 



« 116. Genus PATfYPTILA Cabanis. 



r Wldte-throaled Swift. Bhick or blackish ; chin, throat, breast and middle 

 lino of belly, tips of secondaries, edge of outer primary, bases of tail 

 feathers and a fiank patch, white. Length 5J-6 ; wing the same ; tail about 

 2|, forked, soft. Southwestern U. S. and southward, breeding in colonies 

 on cliffs. Acanthi/Us saxalilis Wooduovse, Expl. Zuni River, 1853, 64; 

 Ci/pselus melanoleucus Bd., Proc. Phila. Acad. 1854, 118. Coues, ibid. 

 1866,57; Bd., 141; Coop., 347 saxatilis. 



