30 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



have recently seen other specimens from Marocco which appear to be 

 identical with Tunis birds. 



In Europe the species has occurred occasionallj' as a straggler, 

 and at least two examples of it have been obtained in Italy, one of 

 these, a male, having been captured near Eome in July, 1890, the 

 other at Genoa, in May, 1890. The former is preserved in the Royal 

 Florence Museum under the Register number 3240, and the latter is 

 in the collection of Sig. S. Queirolo, of Genoa. In its general habits 

 this small Swift resembles its larger congeners to a great extent and 

 will consort with them when hunting for insects. Mr. Aplin saw one 

 or two individuals of the species flying about the Great Mosque at 

 Kairouan, together with C. apus and C. ^nurinus. Had only C. melba 

 also been present on that occasion, he would have had the possiblj' 

 unique experience of seeing no less than four different species of Swift 

 on the wing together at the same time. 



The flight of the White-rumped Swift, although Swift-like, is less 

 rapid than that of the larger species, and as a rule, not so lofty, indeed 

 the bird will constantly pass close over one's head, or within a few 

 yards of the ground. 



As above mentioned, the present species breeds in colonies, choosing, 

 usually, for this purpose caverns on mountain sides, the nests being 

 placed close to each other, and attached to the roof or walls of the 

 cave, or under a projecting ledge of rocks. As a rule they are at a 

 considerable height from the ground, and inaccessible without the aid 

 of a ladder, or other similar appliance, but Baron v. Erlanger seems 

 to have found one of these colonies on the Djebel Freiou, where the 

 nests were quite accessible, being merely a few feet from the ground. 

 The nests, like those of some others of the genus, are firmly stuck to 

 the rock by means of a viscid secretion produced by the bird, and at a 

 distance have the appearance of large hornets' nests. I have no eggs 

 of the species from Tunisia, but presumably they do not differ from 

 those taken in Palestine, which are elongated in shape, of a pure 

 unglossed white, and measure about 22 x 13 mm. 



In my article on Chelidon Jirbica I have alluded to a mixed breeding 

 colony of that Martin and the present species, wliich I discovered in a 

 mountain gorge near Metlaoui, in South Tunisia. The site chosen by 

 this colony was in a recess or cavern, hollowed out of the mountain 

 side by the river Seldja, which runs through the gorge, and in times 

 gone by, must have been a far more important river than it is at the 



