4 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



Familj—C YPSELID/E. 



The Swift. 



Cypselus a pus, LiNN. 



BREEDS throughout Southern Europe, and in Norway as far north as lat. 

 69°; also in Dauria, Mongolia, N. China, Afghanistan, Cashmere, Turkestan, 

 Persia, Asia Minor, and Palestine ; in Northern Africa, Madeira (where it is 

 resident) and the Canaries : in Natal and the Cape it is not known to breed, 

 although it is said to occur there throughout the year.* It has occurred in 

 Russia as far to the north as Archangel, and westwards it has straggled to the 

 Faeroes. On migration it visits the Punjab, and has once been recorded from the 

 Andaman Islands, whilst in Africa it wanders to the extreme south. 



The Swift arrives in the south of Great Britain towards the end of April, but 

 rarel}' reaches the north before the beginning of May, although it has been seen 

 in the Shetlands as early as the 27th of April. Most of the birds have left again 

 b}' the end of August, though stragglers have been seen as late as November. It 

 is found in all suitable localities throughout the British Islands excepting in the 

 Outer Hebrides where it has onl}- been seen once or twice. It has visited St. 

 Kilda. 



The general colour of the Swift is deep silky sooty brown, the feathers of the 

 back and rump somewhat blacker towards the tips ; the chin and throat are dull 

 silky white : bill black ; feet dark brown ; claws black ; iris dark brown. Both 

 sexes are similar in plumage. Young birds have the feathers of the upper parts, 

 including the wings, very narrowl}- edged with greyish white, and the chin and 

 throat whiter than in adults. 



This bird may be met with almost anywhere from the cliffs on the sea-coast 

 to the inland towns and villages ; on mountain or plain it is equally at home. 

 Stevenson speaking of it as met with on the sea-shore says: — "suddenly the sharp 



* Messrs. Butler, Feilden, and Reid (Zoologist, 1SS2, p. 205) in their " Ornithological Notes from Natal," say 

 of this species: — "Seen in considerable numbers at Durban and Maritzburg in April; one was noted at the 

 latter place on the 15th August, and it was common there on the 30th of that month (R). Towards the middle 

 of September Swifts made their appearance in the neighbourhood of Newcastle, where the}- were afterwards 

 common. They must breed, in our opinion, in the crevices of the rocky ravines, otherwise why should they 

 choose their particular spot, fly constantly in and out of it throughout the day, sometimes remaining there for 

 a long time, screaming loudly the while ? In Tiger Kloof, near Newcastle, Reid found them numerous, and all 

 apparently nesting. One pair kept fl3-ing in and out of a hole in a rock just out of his reach, regardless of his 

 presence, and appeared to have .voung. This was on the nth November." 



