ALPINE SWIFT. 375 



it is as irregular and uncommon as with us. It has once, 

 according to M. de Selys-Longchamps, been observed in Bel- 

 gium. In France it is seldom seen away from its mountain- 

 haunts in the Pyrenees, the Alps and the Vosges*, and an 

 example, killed at Etretat in Normandy, as recorded by M. 

 Lemetteil (Cat. Ois. Seine-Infer, i. p. 218), seems to be the 

 only one that has occurred in the north of that country. 



Eastwards the extreme limit of its normal summer-range 

 seems to be much the same as in Western Europe, and it 

 may be traced, due regard being had to the nature of the 

 district, from Transsylvania across the Ural to Turkestan, 

 while there is a possibility of its reaching Mongolia. It is 

 not uncommon in many parts of India, breeding in some of 

 the higher elevations and wintering lower down, while it 

 occurs also in Ceylon in the cold season, if it does not breed 

 there, as Capt. Legge (B. Ceyl. p. 318) thinks is possible. 



The White-bellied Swift, to use a name often applied to 

 this species, seems to have been first made known in 1741, 

 by Edwards, to whom it was sent by Catesby as having been 

 obtained by his brother at Gibraltar, where it was afterwards 

 observed by John White, as he wrote to Linnaeus, to breed 

 in thousands, but sparingly only in our own time by Col. 

 Irby. It appears to reach Europe somewhat later than the 

 common Swift, and to have the same general habits, though, 

 from its proportionally larger wings, it flies more rapidly, and 

 from its larger size and conspicuously white belly, is easily 

 distinguished. Its nest, placed (as before said) in holes of 

 rocks or buildings, is described as being small for the size of 

 the bird, semicircular when placed against a vertical surface, 

 and formed of straws, grasses and leaves, with moss or 

 almost any other material it can collect on the wing, the 

 whole being glued together with its saliva. The eggs are 

 said to be from two to five in number. They are of a dead 

 white, and measure from 1*26 to 1*17 by from '8 to *72 inch. 



The bill is black : the irides dark brown : the lores brownish- 

 black, bounded above by a dull white line ; the head, sides of 

 the neck, and the whole upper surface of a nearly uniform 



* Dr. Mai-chant however says (Cat. Ois. C6te-d'or, p. 59) it breeds near Nolay. 

 VOL. II. 3 C 



