72 



COMMON SWIFT. 

 (Cypselus vulgaris.) 



CY. nigricans, gula alba. 



Dusky Swift, with a white throat. 



Hirundo Apus. Lin. Syst. Nat. 1. 344. 6. Lin. Faun. Suet. 



272,Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1. lOlQ.Briss. 2. 512. \5.Lath. 



bid. Orn. Q. 643. 

 Le grand Martinet. Bvff. Hist. Nat. Ois. 6. 643. Buffi PI. Enl. 



521. f. 1. 

 Swift, or Deviling. Pen. Brit. Zool. ]. 171. t. 57. Pen. Arct. 



Zool. 2. 354. Albin. Birds. 2. 55. Beivick. Brit. Birds. 1. 



259. Lath. Gen. Syn.4.58l. 34Leivin. Brit. Birds. 3. 126. 



Mont. Brit. Birds. 2. 



THIS singular and well-known bird weighs 

 scarcely one ounce : it is in length about eight inches, 

 and expands upwards of eighteen : beak black : 

 iridcs hazel : chin white : the rest of the plumage 

 sooty black, with a greenish tinge : the wings are 

 very long in proportion to the size of the body : 

 tail forked : legs and claws black : female less 

 than the male, the white on her throat less dis- 

 tinct, and the general colour of her plumage more 

 inclined to brown. 



The Common Swift is a summer inhabitant of this 

 island: it arrives at the beginning of May, and de- 

 parts about the middle of August: it builds its nest 

 in the holes and crevices of high towers, or lofty 

 steeples j it is constructed of dried grass, silk or 

 linen threads, pieces of muslin, feathers, and such 

 like, which the bird collects on the wing, picking 

 them up from the ground with great dexterity: it 



