CYPSELIBJE—CH^TUBINjE: SPINE-TAIL SWIFTS. 457 
32. Subfamily CH/ETURIN>E: Spine-tail Swifts. 
Toes with the normal number of phalanges; all but 
the penultimate ones extremely short. Anterior toes cleft 
to the base (no webbing). Hind toe not reversed, but 
sometimes versatile; our species have it obviously ele- 
vated. Tarsi never feathered ; naked and skinny, even 
on the tibio-tarsal joint. In the principal genus, Chce- 
tura, containing about half the species of the subfamily, 
of various parts of the world, the tail-feathers are stiffened 
and mucronate by the projecting rhachis. The other 
genera are Collocalia and Dendrochelidon of the Old 
cronaJe^aulf^athef TcL^m^^^^^ World; Cypseloides, and the scarcely different Nephcece- 
nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) tes, of the New. 
132. NEPH(E'CETES. (Gr. ve(f)os, nephos, a cloud; olKerrjs, oiJcetes, an inhabitant : well applied to 
these high-flyers.) Cloud Swifts. Tail forked or emarginate, with obtusely-pointed but non- 
mucronate stifRsh feathers. First primary longest. Tarsi naked, skinny. Hind toe elevated, 
but perfectly posterior. Front toes cleft to the base. Nostrils embedded in feathers. Unicolor. 
404. N. ni'ger borea'lis. (Lat. niger, black; borealis, northern. Our species is a variety of the 
West Indian iV. niger. Fig. 296.) Northern Black Cloud Swift. ^ 9 , adult. Enth-e 
plumage sooty-black, with slight greenish gloss, little paler below than above, the feathers of 
head and belly with grayish edges. A velvety black area in front of eye ; forehead hoary ; eye- 
lids partly naked. Bill black ; feet probably dusky-purplish in life. Length 6.50-7.00 ; wing 
the same; tail 2.75, forked nearly 0.50 in the adult ^, merely emarginate in the 9 y tarsus 
0.50 ; middle toe and claw about the same. Young : Tail rounded; plumage dull blackish, nearly 
every feather skirted with w'hite, especially noticeable on belly, rump, and upper tail-coverts and 
inner wing quills ; crissum mostly white ; supposed to require several years to perfect the black 
plumage. Kocky Mts. to the Pacific, U. S. and British Columbia ; a great black swift still 
little known ; supposed to nest in cliffs up to 11,000 feet ; ranges to about 13,000 ; crops found 
filled with Ephemeridce. 
133. CH^TU'RA. (Gr. x^'-'^V^ chaite, a bristle; ovpa, oura, a tail. Fig. 297.) Spine-tail 
Swifts. Tail short, less than half as long as wing, even or a little rounded, mucronate, — the 
stiff spiny shafts of the feathers protruding like needles beyond the w^ebs. First primary longest. 
Tarsi naked and skinny. Hind toe elevated, but posterior. Front toes all of about the same 
length, cleft to the base. Feathers reaching to but not far below the nostrils. Unicolor or 
bicolor (our species one-colored, sombre). Sexes alike. 
405. C. pelas'gica. (Gr. IleXacryoi', the Pelasgoi, a nomadic tribe ; Lat. pelasgica, i. e., migratory.) 
Chimney Swift. Chimney Swallow." Sooty-brown, with a faint greenish gloss above; 
below paler, becoming gray on the throat ; wings black ; a velvety black space about eyes. 
Length about 5.00; wing the same; extent about 12.50; tail 2.00 or less, even or a little 
rounded, spiny. Eastern U. S., migratory, very abundant in summer. Like the swallows, 
which this bird so curiously resembles, not only in its form, but in its mode of flight, its food, 
and twittering notes, it has mostly forsaken the ways of its ancestors, who bred in hollow trees, 
and now places its curious open-work nest, of bits of twig glued together with saliva, inside 
disused chimneys, in settled parts of the country. In districts still primitive, however, it con- 
tinues to use hollow trees, to which it resorts by thousands to roost. Not impossibly winters 
in such retreats in a lethargic state ! The twigs for its pretty basket-like nest are snapped off 
the trees by the birds in fuU flight. The eggs are 4-5, 0.75 to 0.80 long by 0.53 broad, thus 
narrowly elliptical, and pure white. So great are the volitorial powers of this bird, that the 
sexes can come together on the wing. 
