Zoological Illustrations Series II/Plate 47
MACROPTERYX longipennis.
Long winged crested Swift.
MACROPTERYX longipennis.
Javanese crested Swallow.
Family Hirundinidæ.
Generic Character.
Bill (fig. 1.2.) small, entire, base depressed and straight, the outer half of the culmen suddenly curved; lower mandible straight, nostrils large, oblong: Tarsi short, without scales; anterior toes of nearly equal length; (fig. 3.4.) claws strong; hinder toe long, not versatile, the claw very short and thick. Nob.
Specific Character.
Above obscure glossy green; throat, breast, and lower part of the back light grey; belly, spot on the scapulars, and line over the eye, white; ears rufous; front with an incumbent crest.
Hirundo Klecho, Horsfield, Linn. Trans, xiii. p. 143, female?
Cypselus longipennis. Pl. Col. Pl. 83, f. 1?
To Dr. Horsfield, one of the most successful and scientific investigators of Oriental Zoology, we are indebted for the first discovery, in Java, of this charming bird. Of its economy nothing is as yet known; but the uncommon length of its wings, indicate its possessing the utmost rapidity of flight. Another, and a much larger species, is among the Ornithological treasures discovered in the Eastern Archipelago by my estimable friend M. Lesson, and which he has already communicated to the public. A third is the Cypselus Comatus, of M. M. Temminck and Laugier.
The peculiar structure of these birds oblige us to consider them as forming a natural group, intermediate between the typical Swifts, and the Swallows. To the first they are allied by their strong scansorial feet; to the latter by the length and fixed position of the hind toe, and the depression of the bill.
We suppose that the figure of the Hirondille longipennes, in the Planches Coloriées, (pl. 83), is intended to represent this species; if so, it is incorrect, both in drawing, proportion, colouring, and detail.