MICROPUS. CENTURA. 121 



north Russia, south in winte^ to south Africa and Mada- 

 gascar. Doubtfully distinct races have been differentiated 

 from south Europe and north Africa. It is replaced in Asia 

 by a paler race, M. a.pskinenrii, which visits India and south 

 Africa in the cold season. 



Micropus melba. ALPINE SWIFT. 



Hirundo melba Linnaus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 192 : 

 Gibraltar. 



Cypselus melba (Linn.} B. 0. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 74 ; 



Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 263. 

 Micropus melba Hartert, Cat. Birds B. M- xvi. 1892, p. 438. 



Melba, of unknown origin. 



Distribution in the British Islands. An Occasional Visitor 

 chiefly between June and October. About twenty-five 

 examples have occurred in England, mostly in the southern 

 half, though seven have been recorded from Yorkshire 

 and one from Northumberland ; one from Pembrokeshire, 

 Nov. 1908 ; and four from Ireland, one in March. None 

 have been captured in Scotland. 



General Distribution. The Alpine Swift breeds in the 

 high mountain ranges from the Pyrenees and Alps eastwards 

 to the Himalaya and from north-west Africa to Ceylon. 

 Its winter quarters in Africa are uncertain, but many of 

 the eastern birds spend the cold season in Ceylon. It 

 arrives, on migration, in Tunisia in March and April and 

 departs in autumn. In the north of France, Heligoland, 

 and Germany it is accidental, and is represented in north- 

 east, east, central, and south Africa by allied resident forms. 



Genus CENTURA Stephens, Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 2, 1826, 

 p. 76. 



Type : @. pelagica (Linn.). 



Chaetura vdih a tail of hairs (spines); from x<Y2 hair and ovpa = 

 a tail. 



