The Alpine Swift. 9 



towards the sea from the rocky hills near ALulura ahoiu sunset. (^n another 

 occasion I saw, at mid-day, an enornions flock of tlieni flying eastwards from the 

 same range, a little sonth of Madnra ; these, hou-ever, were probably merely taking 

 their ordinary rounds of a few hundred miles, hut the others flying seaward at 

 sunset — ^where were they bound for ? 



I discovered one roosting place of this Swift on the magnificent precipices at 

 the falls of Gairsoppa. Here, especially on the cliffs on each side of the great 

 fall, above 900 feet perpendicular height, these vSwifts were congregated in vast 

 numbers, and from the way in which some of them remained about the cliffs at 

 all times of the day, I have little doubt but that they breed here. Is it po-fsible 

 that all the Alpine Swifts that traverse the south of India, with such amazing 

 speed, meet here nightly for roosting, and for breeding in their appointed season, 

 or are there other similar places of resort for them along the chain of western 

 Ghats? However this may be, my own impression, from long observation on the 

 west coast of India, is, that such of these Swifts as have been questing at great 

 distances from their roosting haunts, fl}^ first towards the coast, and then make 

 their way along the sea side, picking up stragglers from other regions on their 

 way to the cliffs of Gairsoppa, or other similar precipices. At Tellicherr}', I 

 frequently saw them early in the morning along the sea coast, alwa^-s flj'ing 

 southwards." 



Speaking of the Swifts at Bern, W. Warde Fowler (Summer Studies, pp. 21, 

 22) says: — "The streets and squares resound with their shrill voices, and they 

 nest under the eaves of the hotel I frequent. These are of the common species ; 

 but if you stand an3nvhere near the cathedral and look up, \-ou will see, generally 

 higher in the air than the others, numbers of the splendid Alpine Swift, circling 

 round with mar\fellous speed. You can tell this bird at once bv his white belly, 

 which almost glitters in the sunshine, and bj- the ease and dignit}- of his flight ; 

 he does not use his wings so rapidly as the other, but sweeps along almost without 

 an effort ; and he does not scream so wildl}', but whistles to his sitting mate as 

 he sails around the tower, or utters a crescendo chatter, which seems to end 

 fortissimo as he comes near to 3'ou." 



"What can be happier for such an aerial bird than to be able to sweep round 

 and round a lofty tower unimpeded by walls of rock ? So it has come down from 

 its mountains to the plain, and taken possession ot the noble tower at Bern. 

 There it builds a curious flat nest, formed of dried leaves, bits of paper, and of 

 fir-bark, with a few feathers, on beams and ledges -n-ithin the tower. Like the 

 Chinese bird whose nest is eaten in the East, it secretes a saliva with which to 

 glue these materials together ; for in ^nnd-swept caves and towers they could hardly 



Vol, ni C 



