CAPRIMULGID^. 107 



artificial flies trailing behind iis, and, in spite of all we could do to warn 

 them off, we had the misfortune to catch several of the Swifts which 

 swallowed our hook. Disengaging them as tenderly as we could we 

 restored them to liberty. 



The Swift is nearly unable to rise on wing from the ground, as it can 

 give itself no impetus Avith its legs, which are very short and are 

 furnished with tiny feet armed with sliarp, prehensile claws, with which 

 it clings to the vertical sides of cliffs and buildings. The Swift is a 

 regular visitor to Lundy Island, and nests there. In the winter time the 

 Swift is very numerous in Upper Egypt, Natal, and at the Cape of Good 

 Hope. 



White-bellied Swift. Ci/psehts melha (Linn.). 



[Alpine Swift.] 



An accidental visitor of extremely rare occurrence. 



An immature specimen was shot and two others were seen near 

 Ilfracombe, October 4th, 1876 (H. E. E., Zool. 1880, p. 108). They 

 were flying about the cliffs in company with about a score of Common 

 Swifts. 



Some flne examples of this large Swift in our collection were taken by 

 !Mr. G. F. Mathew, 11 1^., off the rocks on which they were roosting in 

 Turkey ; they were clinging to the face of the cliffs as tight as limpets. 

 This rare visitor to our country is to be recognized in a moment by its 

 pure white underparts from the Common Swift, which is all over of a 

 greenish black. It is also considerably larger. 



Two specimens of this species have been secured in Cornwall, and 

 another was seen at sea forty miles to the west of the Land's End. In 

 the county of Somerset one is said to have been obtained, and is probably 

 the example included in Mr. Baker's List of the birds of that county 

 published in the Proceeding? of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural 

 History Society for 1850 (C. S., B. of Somerset, p. 287). 



In its habits the Alpine Swift does not differ from the Common Swift, 

 acd arrives at the Cape of Good Hope at the same time as our common 

 and well-known bird. 



Family CAPRIMULGID^. 

 Nightjar. Caprimulgus europwus, Linn. 



[Goat-sucker, Fern-Owl, Night-Crow, Dor-Haw k : Dev.'] 



A summer migrant, common about woods, ferny heaths, and orchards, 

 especially on the borders of Dartmoor and in the south of the county. 

 Breeds. 



It usually arrives at the end of April or early in May, and de|)art3 

 generally at the end of September, but we have often seen it as late as 



