Genus CYPSELUS. 

 Bill slightly stouter and move curved from the base than in Chcetura. Wings equally long, 

 the metacarpus shorter in proportion ; the 2nd quill equal to, or longer than, the first. Tail 

 variable in length, emarginate or deeply forked. Tarsus very short, feathered ; all four toes 

 directed forward, but the two inner reversible, shorter than in the last. 



CYPSELUS MELBA. 



(THE ALPINE SWIFT.) 



Hirun&o melba, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 345 (1766). 



Hirundo alpina, Scop. Ann. i. Hist. Nat. p. 166 (1769). 



Cypselus melba, Illig. Prod. Syst. Mamm. et Av. p. 230 (1811); Gould, B. of Europe, pi. 53 



(1837); Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. no. 421. p. 85 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. 



p. 117 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 167 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. 



i. p. 175 (1862) ; Tristram, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 431 ; Sclater, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 598 ; 



Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 419 ; SevertzofF, Faun. Turkestan, pp. 67, 145 (1873) ; 



Dresser, B. of Europe, pt. 31 (1874); Butler & Hume, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 453. 

 Le Grand Martinet a ventre blane, Mont. Hist. Ois. vii. p. 316 (1783). 

 Le Martinet a gorge blanche, Levaillant, Ois. d'Afr. (1806). 

 Andorinhdo gaivao, Portuguese ; Avion, Spanish ; Alpensegler, German. 

 The Common Large Swift, Kelaart, Prodromus. 

 Wcehcelaniya, Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female. Length 8-5 inches ; wing 8'0 to 8-25 ; tail 3*0 to 3"5 tarsus 055 ; middle toe - 35, its claw 



(straight) 032 to 035 ; bill to gape 0-85 to 0-9. 

 The tail is slightly forked in this species. 



Qbs. These measurements are taken from three Ceylon examples, and are below those of birds from Europe and Africa, 

 some of which, from Switzerland, range as high as 8 - 7 in the wing. Possibly these Ceylonese specimens were 

 bred in the island, and would almost of necessity be smaller than those from cold countries. 



Iris brown ; bill blackish, darkest at the tip ; feet livid brown, claws black. 



Head, all the upper surface with the wings and tail glossy earth-brown, passing over the chest and down the flanks to 

 the under tail-coverts ; on the wings and tail a strong brownish-green lustre is often present ; feathers of the 

 back, rump, and upper tail-coverts with the shafts perceptibly darker than the web ; quills and rectrices darker 

 than the back ; lores black, surmounted by a thin whitish line ; chin, throat, breast, and abdomen white ; the 

 feathers above and below the brown pectoral band and those of the flanks more or less tipped with the same ; thighs 

 and tarsal feathers concolorous with the flanks ; under wing-coverts dark brown, some of the feathers tipped with 

 white ; edge of the wing more or less narrowly margined with white. 



Young. Birds of the year have the feathers of the head, sides of the neck, and all the upper surface with fine whitish 

 terminal margins, external edge of wing-lining with conspicuous white edgings, the white throat-patch more 

 extensive, reducing the extent of the brown pectoral band ; under tail-coverts tipped with white. 



Distribution. — The Alpine Swift takes up its quarters almost exclusively in the upper regions of the 

 Kandyan Province ; but, being a bird of such immense powers of flight, it wanders with ease, in the course of 

 a day's hawking, over all parts of the island. Hence Layard observed it at Dambulla and Ratnppura, and I 



