Chætura gigantea var. celebensis Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1865),
608.
Chætura celebensis Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1892), 16,
467; Meyer and Wiglesworth, Bds. Celebes (1898), 1, 329, pl. 12;
Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 91; Clarke, Ibis (1894), 533; Mearns,
Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. (1905), 18, 185; McGregor and Worcester,
Hand-List (1906), 59.
Basilan (Mearns); Negros (Keay). Celebes.
Adult.--"Deep steel-blue, back and rump with purple gloss; two white
spots on the sides of the forehead; sides of the abdomen and under
tail-coverts white. In size similar to C. gigantea." (Hartert.)
Clarke gives the following notes on a specimen obtained in Negros:
"The back is an admixture of dark brown, or brownish black, and deep
steel-blue, each feather having a broad subterminal band of blue with
an edging of dark brown, which conceals the blue to a considerable
extent, so that the brown predominates. The tail and secondaries are
glossed with green and blue in about equal proportions. Length, 241;
wing, 216; tail, 73; tarsus, 18."
"Female.--A specimen in the Sarasin Collection marked '[female]
juv.' (but we can not see any signs of immaturity) answers to
Mr. Hartert's description of the species, except that the lores are
reddish brown not white. Wing, 208; tail, 63; tarsus, 16; bill from
nostril, 6." (Meyer and Wiglesworth.)
Mearns gives the following measurements of two males from Basilan:
"Length, 240, 255; wing, 215; tail, 75; bill from frontal feathers
(chord), 8.5, 9.6; bill from anterior margin of nostril, 6.1, 7.1;
tarsus, 19, 20; middle toe with claw, 22.5."
But six specimens of this large swift are known, three from Celebes,
one from Negros, and two from Basilan.