330 
Birds of Celebes: Cypselidae. 
Chsetura celebensis (T) Hartert, Oat. B. XVI, 1892, 476; (2) W. E. Clarke, Ibis 1894, 
533; (3) id.. Ibis 1895, 474; (4) M. & Wg., Abb. Mus. Dresden 1896, Xr. 1, p. 5. 
Adult. Deep steel-black, back and rump with purple gloss; two white spots on the sides of 
the forehead; sides of the abdomen and under tail-coverts white. In size similar to 
C. gigantea] — total length nearly 229 mm, wing 203, tail 71, tarsus 16.5 (Hartert 1). 
Female. A specimen in the Sarasin Collection marked “9 juv.” (but we cannot see any 
signs of immaturity) answers to Mr. Hartert’s description of the species, except that 
the lores are reddish broAvn, not white: wing 208 mm; tail 63; tarsus 16; bill from 
nostril c. 6 (9) Tomohon, 29. HI. 95: P. & P. S.). 
Distribution. N. Celebes — Manado (Leyden Museum, a 1, d 1), Tomohon (P. & E. Sarasin); 
Philippines — Negros (Keay 2), 
Only two specimens of this species w^ere known for a space of thirty years. 
The name of the collector has not been recorded, but they are stated by 
Sclater and Hartert to have come from Manado. The latter remarks that they 
belong to a very distinct species. Next it was recorded from Negros by Mr. 
W. Eagle Clarke, and in March 1895 a third Celebesian specimen was ob- 
tained by the Sarasins. The nearest ally of C. celebensis is Chaetura indica 
Hume of India and Ceylon, occurring also in the Andamans in summer as 
well as in winter (Hume, Str. F. II, 156). This has the white spots on the 
lores, but differs from C. celebensis in the smoky brown — not steel-blue — 
colour of its under surface. C. gigantea, which ranges from the Malay Penin- 
sula to .lava, Borneo and Palawan (Hartert), is similar to indica, but Avants the 
white spots on the lores. It is strange that birds of such grand flying-powers 
as these Swifts should seem to have such restricted ranges, but the difficulty of 
shooting them is no doubt very great. 
Chaetura caudacuta (Lath ), however, ranges from Kamtschatka to Tasmania, 
and has occurred as a straggler in Great Britain. This species also must needs 
pass over Celebes on its way south to Australia, which it visits during the 
winter of the North. It has also been observed in Australia in the southern 
winter months, July and August (Cox & Hamilton, P.Tj.S., N.S.W. 1889, 399). 
Chaetura is interesting for its curious spined tail. Hartert remarks that 
in C, gigantea and in C. indica (and, of course, in its ally C. celebensis) “the rec- 
trices are very acute and run into a very long spine, whereas’ in C. caudacuta') 
and C. nudipes they are rounded and the spine is only half as long”. 
C. caudacuta may be at once distinguished from C. celebensis by its Avhite 
throat. Another species with a Avhite throat is C.picina Tweedd., for a long 
time known only by one specimen from Mindanao. 
b The secondaries in Gould’s plate of this species in the “B. Austr.” are drawn wrong — much 
too long. 
