584 



$ haud a mare distinguenda. 



Juv. adulto similis sed plumis ubique albido marginatis et mento albicantiore. 



Adult Male (Cookham, 8th June) . Entire body, excepting the chin and upper part of the throat, almost 

 uniform sooty blackish brown, the upper surface of the wings and the forehead a trifle paler ; on the 

 upper and under surface of the body there is a - clearly distinguishable metallic gloss ; tail tolerably 

 deeply forked, the outermost rectrix being 1*15 inch longer than the central ones; chin and upper part 

 of the throat dirty whitish ; bill and feet blackish ; iris dark brown. Total length about 7| inches, 

 bill from gape - 65, wing 6"5, tail 3 - 15, tarsus 0'55. 



Female. Similar to the male. 



Young Female (Stockholm, 27th August) . Resembles the adult ; but the feathers on almost all parts of the 

 body, and especially on the forehead, underparts, and upper and under surfaces of the wings, are edged 

 with whitish; throat much purer white than in the adult bird. 



Obs. I have carefully examined specimens of so-called Cypselus barbatus from South Africa with European 

 examples, and fail to find any specific difference. It is true that South-African specimens have black 

 central stripes to the white feathers on the throat ; but I find this to be the case, to a slight extent, in 

 several British-killed birds ; and one from Copenhagen has these black stripes as fully developed as 

 many of the South-African examples I have examined. 



The present species of Swift inhabits Europe generally during the summer season, Africa, and 

 Asia, as far east as Dauria. On the islands off the west of Europe it is replaced by Cypselus 

 unicolor and the Pallid Swift. 



In Great Britain it is a common summer resident, but only remains with us for a compara- 

 tively short time, as it arrives somewhat late and leaves early. It frequents the old church- 

 towers and ruined buildings, and in suitable localities is extremely common. Mr. Stevenson, in 

 his work on the birds of Norfolk, says (i. p. 345) that it " appears in that county about the first 

 week in May, and leaves us again, for the most part, by the end of August, though stragglers are 

 occasionally seen up to the 20th and 25th September. The Rev. E. W. Dowell has, however, 

 recorded in his MS. notes a single Swift as seen by himself at Blakeney, with several Hirundines, 

 in October 1858, a very unusually late appearance of this species. Throughout their brief 

 sojourn with us they are very generally distributed, frequenting alike the steeples of our city 

 and country churches, the eaves of houses, or the ruined edifices of bygone days. They also 

 breed regularly in the dark crevices of the chalk cliffs at Hunstanton, facing the sea, where 

 their nests are free from all chance of molestation ; but the old birds are, I am sorry to say, 

 frequently shot at from the beach as they take their evening flight over the sands, or chase one 

 another along the face of the cliffs, whose hollows reverberate with their harsh screams." It is 

 found throughout the mainland of England and Scotland, and is, generally speaking, common 

 throughout Ireland, but is rare on the islands off the Scotch coast. Mr. Robert Gray (B. of W. 

 of Scotl. p. 210) says that " during its three months' residence in Scotland the Swift is very 

 commonly distributed in the western mainland, but is rare on the inner islands, and totally 

 wanting in the Outer Hebrides. Mr. Graham informs me that a pair of these birds have bred 



