Cypselus lowi Sharpe, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1879), 333.
Collocalia lowi Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 16, 498;
Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 89; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs
(1903), 3, 75; Oberholser, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. (1906),
58, 190.
Salangana lowi McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 58.
Palawan (Everett, Whitehead, Steere Exp.). Northern Borneo,
Anamba Islands, accidental in Sumatra and on Nias Island.
Adult.--"Upper surface sooty black with a little greenish gloss,
somewhat purplish on the tail; lower surface brownish gray, with
somewhat darker shaft-stripes; feathers in front of eye white, broadly
tipped with black; under wing-coverts blackish. Length, about 127;
bill at base, 5; wing, 135; tail, 51; nearly quite even; tarsus, 102;
thinly but obviously feathered if not abraded by the string of the
label." (Hartert.)
Young.--Similar to the adult.
Everett found nesting colonies of Low's swiftlet in Palawan and in
northern Borneo during the month of October; the nests were made of
moss and were fastened to the walls of caves with dry saliva.