176 EIHDS OF INDIA. 



occasion I saw, at midday, an enormous flock of them flying 

 eastwards from the same range, a little south of Madura ; these, 

 however, were probably merely taking their ordinary rounds of 

 a few hundred miles, but 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 Swifts were congregated in vast numbers, and from 

 the way in which some of them remained about the eliflf's at all 

 times of the day, I have little doubt, but that they breed here. 

 Is it possible 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 ? How- 

 ever this may be, my own impression, from long observation on the 

 west coast of India, is, that such of these Swifts as have been quest- 

 ino- at great distances from their roosting haunts, fly first towards 

 the coast, and then make their way along the sea side, picking up 

 stragglers from other regions on their way to the cliiTs of Gairsoppa, 

 or other similar precipices. At Tellicherry, I frequently saw 

 them early in the morning along the sea coast, always flying south- 

 wards. 



The flight of this Swift, though elegant and rapid, is not nearly 

 so powerful as that of the two last species. Tickell observed the 

 Alpine Swift in Central India, where he says it is common in all 

 the more elevated regions, but flies so high as often to escape 

 observation. "■ It resorts much," says this observer, " to the tops 

 of high rocks or wooded hills, the summits of which it flies round 

 with great velocity. Flocks sometimes assemble of an evening 

 near large ponds in the jungles, dashing into the w^ater with loud 

 screams, like our Swift at home." 



It has not to my knowledge been observed in the eastern 

 Himalayas, but it is said to be common in the hills to the N. W. 

 at all seasons, extending its flight to the Punjab, Cashmere, &c. 

 during the cold weather. 



