THE NIGHT-HAWK. 
163 
Upper parts brownish-black, mottled with white and pale reddish-brown; 
a conspicuous white bar extending across the inner web of the fii’st, and the 
whole breadth of the next four quills ; Mi-feathers balrred with brownish 
grey, the four outer on each side plain brownish-blaclc towards the end, with 
a large white spot ; sides of the head and fore neck mottled like the back ; a 
broad white band, in the form of the letter Y reversed, on the throat and 
sides of the neck; the rest of the lower parts greyish- white, transversely 
undulated with dai'k brown. Female similar, with the dai’k parts more 
bi*own, the white more tinged with red, the band on the throat brownish- 
white, and the white spots on the tail-feathers wanting. 
Male, 9i, 233. Female, 9f , 231. 
# 
FAMILY Y. CYPSELINYE. SWIFTS. 
Mouth opening to beneath the hind part of the eyes ; bill extremely short, 
very broad at the base, compressed at the end ; upper mandible decurved at 
the point, the edge inflected, with anindistinctsinus. Nostrils basal, approxi- 
mate, oblong. Head lai'ge and depressed ; neck short ; body rather slender. 
Feet extremely short; tarsus rounded, destitute' of scutella ; toes extremely 
short, the three anterior nearly equal ; hind toe veiy small, and versatile ; 
claws string, compressed, arched, veiy acute. Plumage compact ; no bristles 
at the base of the upper mandible ; wings extremely elongated, falciform, the 
first quill longest ; tail of ten feathei's. (Esophagus of moderate width, with- 
out crop ; stomach oblong, moderately muscular, with a dense rugous epithe- 
lium ; intestine short, and rather wide ; no coeca. No inferior laryngeal 
muscles. Nest in crevices or holes, or attached to high places. Eggs elon- 
gated, white. 
Genus I. CH^ETURA, Stephens. SPINE-TAIL. 
All the characters as above. Tarsus bare, longer than the middle toe, 
which scarcely exceeds the outer. "Tail short, even, the shafts very strong, 
and prolonged into acuminate points. 
