VOL. IX.] NOTES. 95 



Ijeing only just large enough to admit the finder's arm. In 

 this case the nest only differed from the ordinary type in 

 lacking the dome, and was placed at the very end of the 

 hole, which was nearly two feet in depth. 



F. C. R. JoURDArN^. 



LARGE FLOCK OF ALPINE SWIFTS IN KENT. 



On July 15th, 1915, in a heavy downpour of rain with some 

 hail, a flight of about one hundred Alpine Swifts {Apus melba) 

 passed over Kingsdown, flj'ing low (about 40 or 50 ft. from 

 the ground) and in a north-westerly direction, the wind being 

 against them. A few Common Swifts were with the flight. 

 They appeared to settle on the ground after crossing a field, 

 but I am uncertain as to this, the ground being undulating, 

 and of coiirse it would be unusual for these birds to alight 

 on a flat surface. On July 22nd I saw five Alpine Swifts 

 hawking flies, and on the same day an enormous flight of 

 Common Swifts, numbering thousands, at Walmer. On 

 August 3rd, passing over the Downs at their highest elevation, 

 I again saw five Alpine Swifts, four of which were flying 

 with two or three Common Swifts. The fifth flew up from 

 a corn-field, within a few feet of where I stood, ancl must 

 have been resting either upon the ground or on the stems of 

 wheat. Since that date I have not seen any examj)le of 

 either species. 



On each occasion that I saw these birds they were in 

 company with a few Common Swifts, and were perfectly easy 

 to indentify both bj^ their colouring and superior size. More- 

 over I have seen numbers of these birds in their native haunts 

 in the Alps, but have never met with them^Dreviously in this 

 country, nor have I ever before seen a specimen alight on a 

 horizontal surface. The perpendicular sides of rocky elevations 

 are always preferred, the bird's legs being very short, and 

 its long and sharp hooked claws better adapted for clinging 

 than for perching. Arnold H. Mathew. 



[In the Field for August 21st, 1915, Mr. H. Holmes records 

 the presence of an Alpine Swift at Whithorn, Wigtownshire, 

 during the first week of August, 1915. — Eds.] 



ADULT CUCKOO KILLING NESTLING 

 MEADOW-PIPITS. 



On May 27th, 1915, while watching a Cuckoo [Cuculns c. 

 canorus) on a slag bank near the Tees marshes I saw it go 



