178 Cochrane, Nesting of White-rumped Swift. [ist^'jan. 



straw, with a -stray feather or two knit together and stiffened with 

 some glutinous matter, the product of the bird. In total 

 diameter it measured 3 inches across, and was firmly and horizon- 

 tally wedged between the two faces of the cleft. The eggs were 

 pure white, of the regular Swift-like pattern and shape. 



A little distance away, in a horizontal crack, a second nest was 

 found containing three eggs. No birds were in attendance, 

 however, and during the remainder of the visit no more Swifts 

 were seen. It was obviously early in the season, and breeding 

 was only beginning. Two other visits were paid to the rock, live 

 days later, and ten days after that. On the second occasion two 

 or three pairs of Swifts were flying over the rock. Three more 

 nests were found, each containing two eggs, and one further nest 

 with two eggs at the final visit. All these nests and eggs were similar 

 to those already described, likewise the situations. In one case 

 the crack in the rock was so narrow that it must have been a 

 matter of impossibihty for the sitting bird to turn herself in the 

 nest, and not one of the sites was such that free iiight was obtain- 

 able before a preliminary scramble either up or along had been 

 undertaken. 



When one considers this wind-swept, spray-splashed rock, of 

 small size and isolated position, its adoption as a breeding station, 

 even for so small a colony of Swifts, is not easily understood. 

 Immunity from disturbance, human or anirnal, must be 'the ex- 

 planation, though compensated for by risks of danger from storm 

 and sea. Certainly, most of the nests were wonderfully placed 

 with regard to shelter and seclusion, as far as those desirabilities 

 were available, but the frequency of gales all through the summer, 

 so well known to those famihar with that stretch of coast, must 

 have given many an unpleasant experience to the temporary 

 inhabitants forming this interesting little settlement. 



In the Bay of Kiaochau, whilst lying off an uninhabited island 

 of considerable size, myriads of these Swifts were observed on one 

 of the last days of August. It was evidently a resort and breeding- 

 place of much importance. The evening air was alive with them, 

 and over and round the island they flew in every direction, twisting 

 and wheeling like a gigantic swarm of bees. Their screams, how- 

 ever, were inconsiderable, and this appears to be a marked dis- 

 tinction between Cypselus paciflcus and the familiar European bird. 



Time, and, above all, the very pressing circumstances of the 

 occasion (the exigencies of the Great War), prevented any closer 

 acquaintance than could be gained from this wonderful and 

 enjoyable sight. 



[In view of Mr. Gregory Mathews's recent statement (" Birds of 

 Austraha," vii., p. 277) that the nest and eggs of the White-rumped 

 Swift have not yet been " authenticated," and following on Mr. 

 Robert Hall's note {Emu, ante, p. 90), Commodore Cochrane's 

 interesting observations are especially welcome. The fact that 

 there may be sub-species or races of a bird does not affect the 

 species in reality, otherwise there would be questions of authen- 

 ticity of the eggs of many species that have been described. — Eds.] 



