26 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



Tunisia and near Ghardimaou, in the month of May. Baron v. 

 Erlanger also found the common Swift in the forest districts of 

 North Tunisia, where the species was breeding in the holes of Cork 

 and Ilex-oak trees (J. f. 0. 1899, p. 515). This fact is interesting, 

 as the sites usually chosen by the Swift for its nest are holes in 

 buildings, often in old towers and church steeples, as also sometimes 

 in cliffs and unused quarries, but rarely in trees. 



The autumnal migration of C. cqms in Tunisia seems to commence 

 about August 20th, and by the beginning of September the greater part 

 of the birds have disappeared. I cannot hear of the present species, 

 or indeed of any of the Swifts, wintering in the Tunisian Eegency, 

 or in any part of North-west Africa. The small White-rumped Swift 

 would be the one most likely to be found sedentary there, as it appears 

 to be so in Palestine and some other Eastern countries, but so far as 

 I am aware, even that species is only a migrant in North-west Africa. 



The note of the common Swift, generally to be heard as the bird 

 dashes swiftly past one, is harsh and piercing. Its long narrow wings, 

 with its wonderfully developed pectoral muscles and its conformation 

 generally, admirably qualify the bird for rapid progress through the air, 

 and its powers of flight are remarkable. I was once somewhat sur- 

 prised to see a Swift flying comparatively slowly and in an eccentric 

 fashion round a building in course of construction, and my surprise 

 was still greater when soon after I saw the bird suddenly dash itself 

 against a wall and remain on an underlying parapet motionless, and 

 apparently lifeless. On obtaining the bird, with the assistance of one 

 of the workmen, I found that it was not dead, but only dazed, though 

 judging from its draggled appearance it was evidently suffering from 

 some malady. I put it in a quiet nook in a garden, out of the reach 

 of cats and such-like marauders, expecting to find it dead the following 

 morning, but on returning to look for it, found it had disappeared. 



The food of the Swift seems to consist entirely of winged insects. 

 The breeding season of the present and other species of Swifts in 

 Tunisia is rather a late one, and does not commence, as a rule, before 

 May. Its nest is generally composed of a little straw and stems of 

 plants, with a few feathers, the whole being matted together with 

 a glutinous secretion from the bird's mouth. 



The eggs are usually two in number, and are of a pure unglossed 

 white, their average measurements being 25 X 17 mm. 



