50 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



body mottled strongly with the same. The breast is also 

 slightly mottled. The wings project considerably beyond the 

 tail. Length, 8" ; wing, 8" 3'" ; tail, 3". 



The great Alpine Swift is very abundant about Cape Town. I have 

 seen it at the Knysna, and have received it from a valued corres- 

 pondent at Swellendam, Wm. Cairncross, Esq., who has sent it with 

 several other swifts and swallows killed in that neighbourhood. 



C. Melba appears to reside principally in the mountains, only 

 occasionally descending into the plains when some particular food is 

 to be found. On the top of Table Mountain I have seen it in great 

 abundance. Once, after lighting a fire there, I found myself sur- 

 rounded by hundreds of them, hawking after the flies which the fire 

 drove up. They dashed through the dense smoke and skimmed along 

 the burning ground at the risk of singing their wings. 



I never heard this species utter any note, even when in company 

 with C. Coffer, screaming and chasing each other in a thousand airy 

 evolutions. 



Le Vaillant says that it breeds in rocks. I have never heard of 

 their nests being found, though I have seen them flying into crevices 

 of the rocky sides of Table Mountain. I also watched several pairs 

 flying in and out of the rocky face of the " Ravine " at Simon's Town, 

 but I had no means of ascertaining if the birds were in a breeding 

 state, and the crevices were perfectly inaccessible. 



75. CypSelUS ApUS, Linn., PI., Enl. 242, f. 1 

 0. Murarius, Temm. 



ENTIRELY of a shot greenish-brown, with a whitish chin and 

 throat. Length, 7" ; wing, 7" ; tail, 2" 9'". 



The common European swift is extremely abundant about Cape 

 Town during our summer ; disappearing about the middle of April. 



I have remarked that here they are not in the habit, as in Europe, 

 of chasing each other round lofty buildings, uttering piercing cries and 

 throwing up their wings. This evolution is performed by C. Coffer, 

 and I am inclined to attribute it to some love-gambol, as Coffer breeds 

 here, and Apus does not. Apus, however, constantly utters shrill 

 screams when at a great altitude in the air ; and my attention has thus 

 often been called to flocks that would otherwise have escaped my 

 notice. 



I have this year (1861) kept a strict watch over their time of 

 departure. The result has been as follows : 



April 9th. Gyp. Apus and 0. Coffer about in abundance. Hirundo 

 Capensis come into town ; the other swallows having left us. 



April 27th. Large flocks of C. Apus flying at a great altitude, and 

 screaming ; these were observed at night-fall in fact just at dark. 



May 3rd., morning. C. Apus and C. 3elba in the upper regions, 

 trending to the northward. 



May 30th. Several specimens of C. Apus flying about the top of the 

 '* Lion's Rump," in company with a flock of Cotyle fuligula three shot. 

 After this they disappeared, with the exception of Cotyle fuligula, 

 which remains with us all the year. 



