156 Lt.-Col. Sir O. B. St. John on the Birds 



sliot at a Common Snipe, of which swarms were flying over- 

 head, Avhen the big Swift passed and a lucky shot brought 

 him down. I have since noticed Alpine Swifts in the cliffs 

 of the mountains east of Quetta. 



38. Cypselus apus (Linn.). 



The Common Swift, which swarms all over our province, 

 was ascribed by Mr. Hume to C. pekinensis (Swinhoe) ; but 

 I could see no difference between, it and the C apus of Persia, 

 so I brought a few specimens to England with me in 1883. 

 They were carefully compared with European and other 

 Asiatic examples by Mr. Seebohm, who concluded that they 

 were not separable from European specimens, and that the 

 so-called C. pekinensis was not a good species. 



39. Cypselus affinis, J. E. Gr. 



Found in small colonies here and there, but nowliere com- 

 mon. A few pairs breed in the Beba-Wali rocks on the 

 Arghandab near Kandahar ; and in the summer at Quetta 

 I have noticed this Swift drinking at a pond in the Residency 

 grounds. 



40. Caprimulgus unwini, Hume. 



Common evei-ywhere in suitable localities. I took three 

 specimens to England in 1883. They were compared with 

 C europaus by Mr. Seebohm, who writes of them, " a shade 

 paler than our bird, and may possibly be subspecifically 

 separable from it." 



41. Caprimulgus mahrattensis, Sykes (?). 



On the Helmund river near Girishk in 1880, a few days 

 before the unlucky battle of Maiwand, I shot a Goatsucker 

 which certainly did not belong to the last species. The 

 lower parts were pale fulvous, wholly unspotted on the abdo- 

 men and vent. The specimen was lost with my baggage after 

 our defeat. I think it was larger, not smaller than tlie 

 Common Nightjar, but I may have been mistaken. If so, it 

 was probably referable to C. mahrattensis ^ which Horsfield 

 says is found in Afghanistan. 



