SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 101 



under the title of Hirundo apus. Now the Swift, according to the 

 established principles of zoological arrangement, is assuredly no 

 Swallow : for the structure of the foot, with its four toes all ante^ 

 riorly directed, suffices at once to distinguish it from every species 

 of Hirundo ; one of the generic characters of which is the existence 

 of " three toes before, and one behind :" and the absurdity of desig- 

 nating by the epithet apus, footless, an animal which possesses feet, 

 however small, is at once evident. The propriety of removing the 

 Swift from the Swallow genus, and assigning to it a new specific 

 designation, cannot, therefore, be denied : but, respecting the man- 

 ner in which this has been done, we have a crow to pluck with our 

 friend, the Dutchman. Temrainck's new term Cypselus, taken from 

 the xv-^txo? of the Greeks, is, in our opinion, far less apposite and 

 precise than the compound, Br achy pus, introduced by the German 

 Ornithologists ; and literally signifying Short-foot. His specific 

 term, murarius, is, moreover, vague, if not perfectly unmeaning. 

 The Wall Swift, of Temminck, and the Tower Swallow, of the 

 Germans, are terms, in fact, almost equally objectionable. Our 

 well-known Develin differs principally from the only other Euro- 

 pean species of the genus in the dusky colour of the whole inferior 

 region of the body. Why, then, not designate it by the terms Bra- 

 chypus (or Brevipes) melanogaster, dark-bellied Short-Legs ? The 

 common Swift is a Summer- visitant of the British islands ; arriving 

 about the end of May, and quitting, in August or September, for more 

 genial climes. The mode in which, without alighting on the ground, 

 this truly aerial bird collects materials for the construction of its nest, 

 is, at present, a subject of controversy. Our own observation leads us 

 to believe that the object is principally accomplished by the fashion- 

 able process of '' spoliation." Are not the organs of secretiveness 

 and acquisitiveness largely developed in the broad and depressed 

 cranium of the Swift and of its Alpine congener ? 



Figure 2 represents the Alpine, or White-bellied, Swift ; — C 

 alpinus, Temminck, — Martinet a ventre blanc, Fr., — Rondine mag- 

 giore. It., — Alpen Schwalbe, G. This fine bird has, of late, been 

 twice or thrice captured in the British islands ; and is, consequently, 

 now recognized as a British bird. A native of southern Europe, the 

 shores of the Mediterranean, the Archipelago, and Africa, it is 

 larger than the preceding species, and distinguished from it by the 

 pure-white colour of the lower parts of the body. Hence, the French 

 and English designation of White-bellied Swift is strictly applica- 

 ble ; and we should consequently propose the substitution of the sci- 

 entific epithet, leucogaskr, for that of alpinus. Brachypus leuco- 



