THE CONDOR 
A Bi-Monthly Magazine of 
Western Ornithology 
Volume XXII  November-December, 1920 Number 6 
[Issued December 4, 1920] 
THE WING CLAW IN SWIFTS 
By ALEXANDER WETMORE 
N a paper on ‘‘The Claws and Spurs on Birds’ Wings’’, Jeffries (Proc. 
| Boston Soe. Nat. Hist., xx1, 1881, pp. 301-306) recorded in a tabular survey 
of the occurrence of wing claws in birds that the wing claw was present in 
the Old World swifts of the genus Micropus and that no wing claw was found 
in the Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica). 
A brief examination of a series of Chimney Swifts showed the present 
writer that this species possessed well developed wing claws so that what had 
appeared to be another character separating the two subfamilies of spiny-tailed 
and soft-tailed swifts proved invalid. Opportunity was taken in this connec- 
tion to examine for this character all of the species of swifts available in the 
collections of the United States National Museum with results that proved of 
some interest. In all, 48 species belonging to 12 genera were available, as in- 
dicated in the following list. 
In arranging my notes on these swifts I have encountered difficulty in the 
arrangement, treatment and choice of names to be used; for there have been 
varying opinions as to the limits of groups and the allocation of subspecies, 
while no recent comprehensive monograph has covered the entire family in a 
manner wholly satisfactory. In general the arrangement of the genera is that 
given by Mr. Ridgway (Bull. 50, U. S. Nat. Mus., v, 1911, pp. 685-686), with 
the inclusion of Tachynautes (Oberholser, Proc. U. 8. Nat. Mus., xxvii, 1905, 
p. 860), while the majority of the species are taken as they stand in Sharpe’s 
-Hand-List (vol. 1, 1900, pp. 89-96). The genus Collocalia is based on Oberho!- 
ser’s monograph of this group (Proce. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. 58, 1906, pp. 
177-212), save that the treatment of Collocalia fuciphaga, C. vestita, and C. 
Jouw is that of Streseman (Vegh, Orn. Ges. Bayern, Bd. xu, 1914, pp. 1-12). 
New species and subspecies not covered by these authors are included in what 
appears to be their logical positions. The writer does not venture to say that 
