coaAci^. 177 



The Coraciae consist of seven families. The MeropidtB, containing 

 about thirty species, and the Coraciidte, containing nearly a score 

 species, inhabit the tropical and subtropical parts of the Old World. 

 The Leptosomidas contains only one species, ■which is peculiar to 

 Madagascar. The Podargida may contain a score species, which are 

 confined to the Oriental and Australian Regions. The Steatorni- 

 thidee contains only one species, ■which is peculiar to the Neotropical 

 Region. The Caprimulgida, numbering a hundred species, and the 

 Cypselid(B, numbering about seventy species, are cosmopolitan, except 

 that they are not found in the Arctic or Antarctic regions. 



Of these families the Coraciid<e, the Caprimulgidce, and the Cypse- 

 lidee are represented in Japan. 



157. CTPSELUS PACIFICUS. 

 (WHITE-RUMPED SWIFT.) 

 Hirundo pacifica, Latham, Index Orn. Suppl. p. Iviii (1801). 



The White-rumped Swift is slightly larger than the Common 

 Swift (wing from carpal joint 6*5 to 7'6 inches), and is easily recog- 

 nized by its white rump. 



Figures : Jardine and Selby, Illustrations of Ornithology, iv. pi. 39; 

 Gould, Birds of Australia, ii. pi. 11. 



The White-rumped Swift was first procured in Japan by Captain 

 Blakiston (Swinhoe, Ibis, 1876, p. 331), and has since been found 

 to be a summer visitor to all the Japanese Islands. It has occurred 

 on Eturop, the most southerly of the Kurile Islands (Blakiston 

 and Pryer, Trans. As. Soc. Japan, 1882, p. 140) ; Captain Blakiston 

 sent me a skin from Hakodadi (Seebohm, Ibis, 1879, p. 31) ; and 

 there are seven skins in the Pryer collection from Yokohama. 



The breeding-range of the White-rumped Swift extends eastwards 

 from Japan across Southern Siberia as far west as Krasnoyarsk in 

 the valley of the Yenesay, whence I have an example procured by 

 Mr. Kibort in June, and as far south as the Lam-yit Islands (on 

 the Chinese coast opposite North Formosa). It winters in the Burma 

 Peninsula and in Australia. 



Other white-rumped Swifts are found in the Oriental and Ethi- 

 opian Regions, but they are all much smaller birds. 



