A Manual of Philippine Birds

by Richard C. McGregor

Genus CHÆTURA Stephens, 1826.

Size large, length 100 to 200 mm. or even more; shafts of tail-feathers very stiff and extending a short distance beyond the webs; claws strong and curved. Birds of this genus are very strong and steady in flight and usually feed high in the air.

Species.

• a¹. Much larger; length, over 200 mm.; chin and throat black.
  • b¹. No white spot on side of forehead. gigantea (p. [357])
  • b². A large white spot on each side of forehead.
    • c¹. Under wing-coverts uniform dark brown. celebensis (p. [358])
    • c². Under wing-coverts edged with white. dubia (p. [359])
• a². Much smaller; length, less than 120 mm.; chin and throat white. picina (p. [359])

320. CHÆTURA GIGANTEA (Temminck).

GIANT SPINE-TAILED SWIFT.

• Cypselus giganteus Temminck, Pl. Col. (1825), 364.
• Chætura gigantea Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 16, 475; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 91; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 59.

Calamianes (Worcester, Celestino); Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino, White). Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Java, Borneo.

Adult.—Forehead, crown, nape, sides of head and neck, wings and tail black with very dark steel-blue gloss; lores deep black; remainder of plumage deep smoky brown, except under tail-coverts and a patch on lower flank which are white; shafts of under tail-coverts dark brown. A male from Palawan measures: Length, 239; wing, 203; tail, 67; exposed culmen, 10; tarsus, 17. A female from Culion measures: Length, 229; wing, 200; tail, 68; exposed culmen, 9; tarsus, 16.

Worcester and Celestino collected a large series of giant swifts in Culion and Palawan. I have seen large swifts in Benguet Province and in Calayan, and Worcester observed a large flock in northern Luzon which may have been either C. gigantea or C. dubia.