cypseliform (sip sel i form)

[L. cypse swift, + form a, shape.] Having the form or structure of a swift; resembling the Cypselida. Also cypselomorphic. Cypseliformes (sip"se-li-fôr'mēz), n. pl. [NL., pl. of cypseliformis: see cypseliform.] A super family of mac roch iran non-pa erine birds, containing the swifts, goatsuckers, and humming-birds; the long-handed series of picarian birds: nearly the same as the Macro chi res, and the same as the Cypseloides of Blyth and Cyp selomorphæ of Huxley. The syrinx has not more than one pair of intrinsic muscles; the palate is ægithognathous; the oil-gland is nude; the legs are a noma log on a to us; the sternum is broad, deeply keeled, entire or notched behind; the tail has 10 rectrices; the distal seg ments of the wing are greatly elongated in comparison with the proximal one, and the pinion bears 10 rapidly graduated flight-feathers, producing a long, pointed wing; the feet are small, scarcely serviceable for progre ion, with variously modified digits, sometimes of abnormal ratio of phalanges, but neither syndactyl nor zygodactyl; and the hind toe is elevated or reversed in some forms, in which also the front toes may be semi-palmate. The bill shows two diverse types, being tenuirostral in the humming-birds and fi irostral in the swifts and goatsuckers. The group is contrasted among picarian birds with the Cuculiformes and the Pic i formes. 1433 clidium or none; no expanded scapular end of the clavicle; and not more than one pair of intrinsic syringeal muscles. cypselomorphic (sip"se-lō-môr'fik), a. [As Cypselomorpha + -ic.] Same as cypseliform.