58 Mr. C. A. Wright's List of the Birds 



tember migrations. It can hardly be very common, as, although 

 I have looked out pretty closely for it, I have never met with a 

 single one. 



66. Cypselus apus. (Swift.) 

 Rundun, Maltese. 



Commences arriving from the south in March and April, and 

 remains with us till August, breeding in the precipitous rocks 

 and caverns on the coast and in the walls of the fortifications. 

 Repasses in September. In spring and summer it is plentifully 

 distributed all over the island^ but disappears as autumn ad- 

 vances. 



67. Cypselus melba. (White-bellied Swift.) 

 Rundun ta Zaccu baida, Maltese. 



Much less common than its congener. A few are annually 

 seen in spring and autumn; but it makes no lengthened stay, 

 and does not breed here. Mr. Tristram and Mr. Medlycott 

 found it breeding in the island of Sardinia in May, in company 

 with the Lesser Kestrel {Falco cenchris). 



68. Caprimulgus europ^us. (Nightjar.) 

 Bukraik or Bukarak, Maltese. 



Plentiful towards the end of March and in April and May. 

 Great numbers are shot in these months for the table. As many 

 as one hundred and thirty have been shot in a day by one gun. 

 In spring they are most abundant in south-westerly winds after 

 a dark night. They are generally found asleep in the daytime 

 on the branches of the carob-trees, invariably arranging their 

 bodies and long tails in a line with the branches. Thus, being of 

 the same colour as the bark, they are very difficult to perceive. 

 They are also found reposing on stones and on open rocky 

 ground. In Gozo the country-people have a way of snaring 

 them with a noose at the end of a stick. I have often seen these 

 birds before sunrise, and again in the evening after sunset, hunt- 

 ing for insects on the wing. They repass in September and 

 October, at the same time as the Scops Owl. 



69. Caprimulgus ruficollis. (Rufous-necked Goatsucker.) 

 A specimen of this bird was shot at Imtahlep, on the south- 

 west of Malta, at the end of May 1860. The preserved skin 



