372 CTPSELID^. 



Mr. Ridgway informs us, in the United States National Museum which were sent there 

 by Mr. Henry Hague, who succeeded Mr. Carter as manager of the San Geronimo 

 estate. Don Vicente Constancia, too, had a specimen in his collection, which passed at 

 his death into the Museum of the Sociedad Economica de Guatemala. This last- 

 named bird was obtained near Antigua, Guatemala, and probably belonged to the 

 colony which flew round the Volcan de Fuego. 



The nest of this species is a remarkable structure, made entirely of the downy seeds 

 of some plant ; these are glued together, doubtless by the saliva of the bird, so as to 

 form a long bag-like structure with the opening below. The nest itself is near the 

 top of the inverted bag, and the bird on entering the mouth must climb to the top by 

 its feet. The eggs are not known. 



Panyptila sancti-hieronymi is a large form of P. cayennensis, and resembles it in 

 nearly every particular of the distribution of its black and white colour. The 

 difference in size is nearly half as large again, the wing measuring 7*5 inches as 

 against 5 '6. 



Subfam. CEMTJJRmM. 



In this subfamily Mr. Hartert includes the genera Chcetura, its near ally Cypseloides, 

 and the builders of the edible nests, Collocalia. The latter genus is purely Eastern, and 

 does not concern us here. 



All the members of Chcetura as distinguished from Cypseloides have stiff tail-feathers, 

 the shafts of which are produced beyond the webs and form sharp points, which no 

 doubt enable the birds to support themselves against rocks, buildings, and trees, as a 

 Woodpecker or Creeper does against a tree. 



CHiETURA. 



Chcetura, Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 3, p. 7Q (1826) ; Hartert^ Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 



xvi. p. 470. 

 Hemiprocne, Nitzsch, Pter. p. 133. 



This genus contains the spine-tailed Swifts found throughout the greater part of the 

 tropical portion of the world, and includes, according to Mr. Hartert, the large 

 C. caudacuta and its allies, by some separated into a distinct genus Hirundinapus, as 

 well as the larger forms of South and Central America to which the name Hemiprocne 

 has been applied. Both these groups appear to be natural sections, but their definition 

 is not easy and hardly necessary. Chcetura, then, in its wide sense, contains about 

 thirty-six species, of which just half belong to the New World. The rest are found 

 in various parts of the Old World as far east as New Guinea and Australia, Tropical 

 Africa and Madagascar possessing species of their own. 



Of the eighteen American species, eight occur within our region, two of them being 

 winter visitants from the north. C. semicollaris is peculiar to Mexico, and C. gaumeri 

 has not been noticed beyond the limits of Central America. The remaining four all 

 extend beyond our southern border, and are found on the continent of South America. 



