Order PICARLE.] 
CYPSELUS PACIEICUS. 
(AUSTRALIAN SWIFT.) 
[Fam. CYPSELIDAi. 
Hirundo pacifica, Lath. Ind. Orn. Suppl. ii. p- lviii (1801). 
JSrew-Holland Swallow, Lath. Syn. Suppl. ii. p. 259 (1801). 
Cypselus pad ficus, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool. vol. x. p. 132 (1817). 
Hirundo apus , var. 0, Pall. Zool. Ross.-Asiat. tom. i. p. 540 (1831). 
Cypselus australis, Gould in Proc. Zool. Soc. part vii. 1839, p. 141. 
Cypselus vittata, Jard. 111. Orn. ser. 2, pi. 39 (1840). 
Micropus australis, Boie, Isis, 1844, p. 165. 
Micropus vittata, id. tom. cit. 
Cypselus australis, Gould, Birds of Austr. fol. vol. ii. pi. xi. (1848). 
Cypselus pad ficus, Gould, Plandb. Birds of Austr. vol. i. p. 10o (I 860 ). 
Descr. exempt, ex N. Z. Sup* nigricanti-brunneus : dorso metallice nitente : uropygio albo : subtus intense fusco : 
gutture cinerascenti-albo : plumis pectoris abdominisque anguste albo margmatxs : remigibus caudaque 
nigricantibus : rostro nigro : pedibus nigris. 
New-Zealand example. Crown of tbe head and general upper surface blackish brown, with a metallic lustre on 
the back and upper surface of wings and tail; rump pure white ; throat and upper part of fore neck greyish 
white • the rest of the under surface blackish brown, but paler outlie lower fore neck and under tail-coverts ; 
the feathers of the breast and abdomen narrowly tipped with white ; quills and tail-feathers brownish black, 
the shafts greyish towards the base on their under aspect ; the inferior primaries, the whole of the secon- 
daries, and the inner lining of the wings minutely margined with greyish white. Bill andleet black. Total 
length 7'7 5 inches; wing, from flexure, 7'2 ; tail 3; bill, along the ridge '3, along the edge of lower 
mandible - 8 ; tarsus ‘5 ; middle toe and claw '55. 
Young ( Australian specimen in British Museum). Has the plumage of the head, shoulders, and back very 
narrowly margined with paler brown ; in front of each eye an angular spot of black and above that a line 
of greyish white ; throat greyish white, with indistinct shaft-lines of brown ; the plumage of the under- 
parts conspicuously marked in crescents, each feather becoming black in its apical portion and then broadly 
tipped with greyish white ; the lining of wings uniform dark brown ; the whole of the rump wdiite with fine 
black shaft-lines ; under tail-coverts broadly tipped with white. 
Obs The only sexual difference is that the female has somewhat duller plumage than the male. The amount of 
white on the throat is very variable, being reduced in some specimens to a mere wash of fulvous-white. 
The extent of white also on the nropygium varies much in individual examples, sometimes spreading down 
to the thighs. 
ONE of the most recent cases, and perhaps tbe most interesting, of the occurrence of common 
Australian forms in New Zealand is that of the Swift, which made its appearance for the first time, 
so far as we know, in the history of the colony, in December 1884. 
On seeing the newspaper accounts of the flight which had visited the White Cliffs (near the town 
of New Plymouth) I naturally concluded that this was another instance of the Tree-Swallow visitant 
from Australia, with which we had already become familial. 
