6 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
Legs and feet pale pink or dull purplish pink or livid with a blue tinge; 
bill black; irides dark brown. {Davison.) 
Length 9 inches^ tail 2*8^ wing 7*8_, tarsus •75_, bill from gape I'l. The 
female is very little smaller. 
The Indian Giant Spine-tail was observed by Mr. Davison in the extreme 
south of Tenasserim^ where it appears to occur but sparingly. Colonel 
Lloyd procured a specimen in Karennee many years ago ; and I find on 
inquiry that this specimen^ which is now in Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay^s 
collection^ is undoubtedly H. indicus and not H. giganteus. 
This Spine-tail occurs in Southern India^ Ceylon and the Andaman 
Islands. Mr. Inglis procured it in Cachar^, and Mr. Davison observed it at 
Junk Ceylon in the Malay peninsula. 
These Swifts are remarkable for their wonderful powers of flighty and 
they associate in immense flocks. They probably breed in caves and faces 
of precipices; and^ according to Mr. Swinlioe^ some birds of this genus 
make edible nests. 
H. nudipes is another species of Spine-tail from the Himalayas. It has 
the Ghin_, throat and fore neck white_, but wants the white spots on the 
lores. H. acuticauday from Australia, is another large species with the 
whole forehead white. 
Genus RHAPHIDURA, Oates, 
406. RHAPHIDURA LEUCOPYGIALIS. 
THE SMALL BLACK SPINE-TAIL. 
Acanthylis leucopygialis, Bl. J. A. S. B. xviii. p. 809, Cypselus coracinus, 
MiilL, Schleg. Handl. Dierk. i. pp. 221, 479, Vogels, pi. ii. lig. 14. Chaetura 
coracina, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 614 ; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 124 ; Hume Sr 
Dm. 8. F. vi. p. 45. Chaetura leucopygialis, Hume, S. F. vii. p. 518, yiii. 
p. 84. 
Description. — Male and female. The whole plumage glossy bluish black, 
except the rump and upper tail-coverts, which are greyish white with the 
shafts black ; the tail-coverts reach to the tip of the tail, leaving merely 
the spines exposed. 
Legs and feet livid purple; claws and bill black; irides dark brown. 
[Davison.) 
Length 47 inches, tail 1'7, wing 4*8, tarsus -35, bill from gape '6. The 
female is slightly smaller. 
