COMMON SWIFT. ALPINE SWIFT. 119 



the horse became excited, and endeavoured to dismount his 

 rider, and at last took fright and galloped up Sackville- street. 



Exceedingly reckless in the impetuosity of its flight, a 

 swift in our possession was obtained by striking itself vio- 

 lently against a gentleman's hat in Suffolk-street, falling 

 stunned and senseless at his side. To this habit, occasionally 

 observed by the ancients, we are, doubtless, indebted for the 

 idea of the swift's blindness, remarked by Aristotle and 

 Pliny. 



Resembling the window martin in the great variety of its 

 breeding sites, we see many window sills of the principal 

 houses in the squares and streets of Dublin with two or three 

 pair of swifts tenanting the crevices beneath. 



Along Bray, Howth, and Lambay Island, we may observe 

 the natural breeding places of the swift in crannies of the 

 rock or precipices overhanging the sea. 



Occasionally we may see the swift breeding in company 

 with the jackdaw and starling, in the Round Towers of the 

 country, as at Lusk, Monasterboice, and Kildare. 



Habitat Northern Africa. 



SPECIES 113 THE ALPINE SWIFT. 



Cypselus Alpinus. Linn. 

 Martinet a ventre blanc. Temm. 



THE ALPINE SWIFT, easily distinguished from the common 

 species by its more extended sweep of wing and the white 

 colour of the under parts, has only been obtained in a very 

 few instances. The first accredited specimen ever occur- 

 ring in the British isles was taken off Cape Clear, some short 

 distance from land ; a second specimen was procured at Rath- 

 farnham, near Dublin, in the spring of 1833, and was eventu- 

 ally added to the collection of Mr. T. W. Warren. The last 

 specimen, shot in the county of Cork, came under the notice 

 of Robert Warren, Esq., of Castlewarren, in the same county. 

 Habitat Northern Africa. 



