288 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



county." From a Society professing to call itself a 

 "Natural History Society" we might have hoped 

 for some fuller accounts of the " five specimens in 

 Ornithology " than that they were " neatly mounted 

 with appropriate landscape back-grounds." Of a 

 bird so rare as the Alpine Swift we should have cer- 

 tainly liked to know, at least, the when and where of 

 its capture. However, as it was shot in the county, 

 I must include it in the list of Soinertshire birds. 



Though rare, this bird has been taken in several 

 counties in Great Britain and Ireland; its general 

 habitation seems to be the islands in and countries 

 adjoining the Mediterranean. It is a migratory 

 species, going northward across that sea from Africa 

 to Europe in summer. It appears to have much the 

 same habits as the Common Swift, feeding on 

 various sorts of insects, which it seeks far in the 

 higher regions of the air. 



The nest is placed in the fissures of high rocks, 

 and in the loftiest parts of cathedral and church- 

 towers : it is made of straw and moss.* 



This bird may readily be distinguished from the 

 Common Swift by its white belly and its larger size. 

 Yarrell describes the Alpine Swift as follows: 

 " The beak is black, and longer in proportion than 

 in the Common Swift; the irides are blackish brown ; 

 the top of the head, sides of the neck and all the 



* Yarrell, vol. ii., p. 278. 



