1. MICRO I' us. 



44o 



Cypselus acuticauda, Jerd. B. India, Suppl. p. 870, note ex BUjth 

 MS. (18G4) ; Blyth, Ibis, 1865, p. 45 (descr., Nepal) ; id. Ibis, 

 1866, p. 339 ; Jerd. Ibis, 1871, p. 355 ; Himne, Str. F. ii. p. 156 

 (1874) ; 8cully, Str. F. iv. p. 132 (1876) ; Gray, Hand-l. i. p. 63 

 (1869). 



Cypselus pekiuensis, Sioinh. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 485 (China) ; id. P. Z. S. 

 1871, p. 345 (India) ; Scully, Str. F. iv. p. 132 (1876) ; id. Ibis, 

 1881, p. 428 (Gilgit) ; David et Oust. Ois. Oiine, p. 68 (1877) ; 

 C. Sioinh. Ibis, 1882, p. 101; Sharpe, Yarkand Miss., Aves, p. 112 

 (1891). 



This form is a little paler on the upper parts, especially on the 

 forehead and slightly so on the tail. In all other respects it 

 resembles M. apus. Typical specimens of this form are exactly 

 intermediate between M. apus and typical 21. murlnus. 



Hah. As far as I can judge from the series before me, all Asiatic 

 birds from Sindh eastwards belong to this form. They wander 

 southwards in the cold season, and seem to go even to South Africa. 



The bird described as Gypselus shelleyi* by Salvador! (type 

 examined), and the one mentioned by myself in the ' Katalog 

 Yogels. Seuckenb. Mas.' p. 119, no. 1826 c, both from Abyssinia, 

 are no doubt identical inter se, and 'also with two skins from 

 Abyssinia in the British Museum ; but they are extremely similar 

 to the type of M. pel-inensis. Besides, they most closely resemble a 

 specimen of M. apus from South Africa in Mr. Dresser's collection 

 and one from England in the British Museum, both apparently in a 

 somewhat faded plumage, so that I am inclined to refer them to the 

 latter species. Several other specimens of M. apus nearly approach 

 them, as also does one of the Eastern form from Gilgit. However, 

 further investigations in Shoa and Abyssinia are necessary, to 

 show whether there is any constancy in the modification of colour 

 in Abyssinian Swifts. At present I believe that, while M. murinus 

 is the only species that breeds in Egypt, and M. apus passes that 

 country on migration, the darker form reoccurs in the mountains of 

 Abyssinia and Shoa. From various circumstances, and from the 

 dates on which Jesse's and Salvadori's (Ragazzi's) specimens were 

 killed, I conclude that these birds cannot be migrants. 



a. 2 imm. sk 



b. cJ ad. ; c. 

 ad. sk. 



d. (S ad. ; e. 



imm. sk. 

 /. Ad. sk. 



g. 2 ad. sk. 

 h. Imm. sk. 



i, k. Ad. sk. 



Shiraz, Persia, 4760 ft. 

 2 Ferghana, April, June. 



cJ Yarkand [J. Scully). 



Tashgaom, Aug. 17 (F. Sto- 



liczka). 

 Kargalik, Nov. {F. Stoliczka). 

 Lukung, Sept. 20 (F. Sto- 

 liczka). 

 Kashgar [BeJlew). 



Sh- 0. St. John [C.]. 

 Severtzoff Coll. 



Hume Coll. 



India Museum. 



India Museum. 

 India Museum. 



India Museum. 



?Ojpselus dubius, Antln. Cat. descr. Ucc. Ajr. p. 25 (1864) (juv.). 

 Cypselus apus, Finsch, Trans. Zool. Soc. vii. p. 213 (1870) (ibyss.). 

 Cypselus shelleyi, Saliml. Ann. Mm. Civ. Gen. xxi\. p. 2. '7 (1833) (Shoa), 



