456 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS -PICABIJE—CYPSELIFOBMES. 



widening behind, its posterior margin entire; furculum stout, rather U- than V-shaped. Oil- 

 gland nude. No coeca. Leg-muscles anomalogonatous (p. 195) ; femoro-caudal present, but 

 accessory femoro-caudal, semitendinosus, accessory semitendinosus and ambiens absent. Eggs 

 several, narrowly oval, white. 



" One (if the most remarkable points in the structure of the Cypselidm 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 aflSxed to a 

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

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

 known in the East." (Sclater.) 



A well-defined family of 6 or 8 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 vrith no real aflinity to these Osdnes. Notwithstanding the utmost 

 difierence in the shape of the' bill, the real affinities are with the tenuirostral Trochilidts in 

 every structural peculiarity. They are birds of extraordinary volitorial abOity, 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. 

 CYPSELiNiE. Front toes with 3 joints apiece. Hind toe lateral or versatile. Tarsi feathered. 



Toes feathered. Tail not spiny Pamyptila 131 



CnMTVB.i^M. Front toes with 3, 4, and 5 joints from inner to outer. Hind toe pos'terior or lateral, hut 

 not reversed. Tarsi and toes naked. 



Tail emarglnate, not mucronate . Nephcecetes 132 



Tail 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 PomypUla). Tarsi feathered (in Cypselus) ; 

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

 of the family. Of Pamyptila 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'PTItA. (Gr. wdw, panu, much, very; irriKov, ptilon, wing : in allusidn to the length 

 of wing.) Rock 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. saxaUlis, rock-inhabiting; saxum, a rock.) White-throated Rock 

 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. BUI black ; feet drying yellowish. The 

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

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

 belly is very variable. The flank-patches arc 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 cliflfs ; 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. Pound N. to Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada. 



