The Key to Scientific Names
- Nephoecetes
(Apodidae; syn. Cypseloides † Black Swift C. niger) Gr. νεφος nephos cloud; οικητης oikētēs dweller < οικεω oikeō to inhabit; "47. Nephoecetes, Bd. ... 108. Nephoecetes niger, (Gm.) Baird. Northern Swift. ... NEPHOCAETES. ... NEPHOCAETES, Baird. CH.—Tail rather less than half the wings; quite deeply forked; the feathers obtusely acuminate; the shafts scarcely stiffened. First quill longest. Tarsi and toes completely bare, and covered with naked skin, without distinct indications of scutellae. Tarsus rather longer than middle toe; the three anterior toes about equal, with moderately stout claws. Claw of middle toe much shorter than its digit. Hind toe not versatile, but truly posterior and opposite, with its claw, rather longer than the middle toe without it. Toes all slender; claws moderate. Nostrils widely ovate, the feathers margining its entire lower edge. This genus is widely different from Cypselus in the slender and elongated toes and tarsi, which are completely bare of feathers. ... The affinities of this genus to Chaetura, as restricted, are very close, the feet being very similar. ... The larger Acanthyli of the older authors are still more like the present species in generic peculiarities. ... The genus Pallene, in which they have been placed, is pre-occupied according to Gray. Cypselus senex of Temminck, from Brazil, is very closely allied, the tail feathers not being mucronate. The tail is, however, even or slightly rounded, instead of forked. A genus Pallenis established for this species by Reichenbach might, without much violence, be made to include N. niger; but as this name is pre-occupied for another genus, there seems nothing left but to establish a new one." (Baird 1858); "Nephoecetes Baird, in Baird, Cassin and Lawrence, Rept. Expl. and Surv. R. R. Pacific, 9, 1858, p. xviii, xxix. (Nephocaetes, p. 140, 142.) Type, by monotypy. Hirundo nigra Gmelin." (Peters, 1940, IV, p. 243).
Var. Nephoectes, Nephocaetes, Nephaecetes.
