CYPSELUS AFFINIS GALILEJENSIS 29 



tail and wings mouse-grey ; chin and throat pure white ; breast, abdomen 

 and flanks blackish-brown ; crissum and under tail-coverts mouse-grey, 

 slightly edged with whitish. 



Iris, bill and feet dark brown. 



Total length 5'25 inches, wing 5'25, culmen from gape '50, tarsus -40. 



Adult female similar to the male. 



Observations. — The White-rumped Swift found in Tunisia has been 

 separated by Dr. Eeichenow from typical C. affinis, under the name of M. 

 koenigi (Orn. Monats. 1894, p. 191), but it so closely resembles C. affinis 

 galilejensis (Ant.), that I cannot but refer it to that subspecies. Examples 

 from Tunisia are perhaps generally a trifle paler on the forehead than those 

 from Palestine, but the difference is extremely slight. In point of size I do 

 not notice any appreciable difference between the two. 



This small Swift, although fairly generally distributed throughout 

 the mountainous districts of South Tunisia, does not appear to occur 

 north of the Atlas, except as an occasional straggler. It is to be met 

 with in certain numbers on the low ranges of mountains bordering the 

 plains lying to the west of Gafsa, where the species breeds, small 

 colonies of it being found nesting on the Djebel Tfei, the Djebel Seldja 

 and other hills in that district. I have also specimens of the bird, or 

 notes of its occurrence at Sobria, south of the Chott Djerid, and 

 various places in Central Tunisia. The Djebel Meda, near Gabes, 

 appears to be much frequented by this Swift and has at least one 

 breeding colony of the species. 



' So far as I have been able to ascertain, the presant species arrives 

 in South Tunisia, together with other Swifts, towards the end of 

 March and beginning of April, and after nesting, leaves again towards 

 the end of August, or early in September. Although the species is 

 said to be sedentary in Palestine and further east, I cannot hear of its 

 being so in the Tunisian Kegency, or indeed anywhere in North-west 

 Africa, and conclude, therefore, that its winter quarters are further 

 south. The species, either in its typical, or in a slightly darker form, 

 appears to occur in West and South Africa right down to the Cape. 



In South Algeria the White-rumped Swift doubtless occurs, as it 

 does in Tunisia, though I have no positive information regarding this. 

 From Marocco I have examples of it, which were obtained in spring 

 near Marocco City, and at Mazagan on the west coast. These par- 

 ticular specimens are rather darker than Tunisian examples, but I 



