597 



CYPSELUS PALLIDTJS. 



(PALLID SWIFT.) 



Cypselus apus, L., Webb & Berthelot, Orn. Can. p. 23 (1841, nee Linn.). 



i." Cypselus murinus, A. & E. Brehm," C. L. Brehm, Vogelfang, p. 46 (1855). 



Cypselus murarius, Vern. Hare. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, xv. p. 437 (1855, nee Temm.). 



Cypselus apus, L., Heugl. Syst. Uebers. Vog. Nordost-Afr. p. 16 (1856, nee Linn.). 



Cypselus pallidus, Shelley, Ibis, 1870, p. 445. 



Figura nulla. 



Ad. grisescenti-murinus, fronte et pileo vix pallidioribus, alis et cauda saturatioribus : mento et gula. albidis : 

 ante oculum macula nigra : plumis in corpore subtus vix albido marginatis : rostro nigro : pedibus 

 rufescenti-fuscis : iride brunnea. 



Adult Male (Egypt, 14th March) . Resembles Cypselus apus, except that instead of being sooty black it is 

 dull soft mouse-grey ; forehead and crown rather paler than the back, the wings and tail being rather 

 darker ; chin and upper throat whitish grey ; rest of the underparts mouse-grey, darkest on the breast 

 and abdomen, and most of the feathers on these parts are narrowly margined with lighter grey ; in 

 front of the eye is a black spot, which is extended to a very slight extent round the edge of the eye ; 

 bill black ; feet dark purplish brown ; iris brown. Total length about 6 inches, culmen 03, gape 0"65, 

 wing 6*4, tail 2" 7, tarsus - 45. 



Female. Similar to the male. 



Obs. Although I think it probable that the bird referred to by Brehm (/. c.) under the name of Cypselus 

 murinus is the present species, still his description is so very imperfect that it cannot possibly be taken 

 as sufficient to identify his bird with the Pallid Swift; and I have therefore been compelled to adopt 

 Captain Shelley's name for it. All that Brehm says is as follows : — " Mausegrau mit weissem Kinne, 

 verfliegt sich sehr selten aus Nordafrika nach Siideuropa, 6^" lang." 



Specimens from Egypt and Spain agree closely, except that those from the latter country appear to have 

 the margins to the feathers on the undersurface of the body rather broader ; it is possible that they 

 may not be so fully adult as the Egyptian examples. 



The present species having been by so many naturalists confused with the common Swift, it is by 

 no means an easy task to correctly define its geographical range, and doubtless it is to be met 

 with in many parts of Europe from which I have no record of it. It is certainly found, and 

 is not rare, in Spain ; but how far north in that country it ranges I am unable to say. As will be 

 seen from the notes below given, it is very local in its distribution and not so generally scattered 

 over the face of the country. Colonel Irby informs me that he has occasionally seen it at 

 Gibraltar in April, and he has shot it there, where, he adds, it is not common. "At Algeciras," 

 he writes, " where the common Swift swarms in almost incredible numbers, both Mr. Stark and 



