610 



8 



the only instance in which we observed C. melba breeding not in large colonies. Their roosting- 

 places are few ; but what matters this to a bird which can traverse the whole extent of the Holy 

 Land in an hour'? The bird does not appear to resort much to Hermon or the Lebanon, 

 preferring the far more precipitous though lower cliffs which line the ravines running down to 

 the Ghor. One other nesting-place we noticed, in a spot certainly selected with a view to the 

 picturesque. Just above Afka (Aphek), where the ground is strewn with the marble shafts of 

 the famed temple of Venus at Adonis, the classic stream of the Adonis bursts, full-grown at 

 birth, in a prodigious volume, from the foot of a shallow cave under a lofty precipice. Here on 

 the 18th June a colony of Alpine Swifts were busily engaged in feeding their young." 



The note or scream of the present species resembles that of the common Swift, and is 

 quite as harsh, but is much louder. 



Dr. Girtanner obtained a pair of Alpine Swifts alive, together with their nest and four young, 

 and gives (I. c.) some interesting details respecting them. He could, he says, only distinguish 

 the male from the female by dissection after they had died, but not from outward appearance of 

 plumage. The female refused to take food, and died in five days ; but the male suffered itself to 

 be fed, and lived three weeks. The young he kept alive, and killed one four months, the second 

 rive months, and the third six months after he received them, keeping the fourth until the 

 following May. He says that when five weeks old the young birds closely resembled their 

 parents, except that the dark feathers had white edges, which had disappeared entirely, except 

 in the quill-feathers, in the following February. He remarks that the old birds never swallowed 

 small portions of food, but waited until a tolerably large lump or ball was formed, when they 

 bolted it, apparently with some slight difficulty. On the level ground they could, he says, push 

 themselves along, but could not raise themselves and take wing. The young could never, even 

 at the last, be taught to feed themselves, but had invariably to be fed. As cage-birds he does 

 not recommend them, and ends by saying that they had far better be left to enjoy their freedom 

 in the open air. 



The specimens figured and described are from Switzerland and Malta, and are in my own 

 collection. Full particulars as to locality &c. are given above. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a, b. Southern Europe [Cooke), c, ad. Switzerland. d,juv. Bern, Switzerland (Nager-Donazian) . e, <$ . 

 Malta, April 22nd, 1868 (C. A. Wright), f, 6 juv. Piedmont, September 1869 {Salvadori). 



E Mus. H. B. Tristram. 



a. Geneva, b, $ . Forest of Bashan, Palestine, March 14th, 1864. c, 2 • Gennesareth, March 31st, 1864 

 {H. B. T.). d, e. South Africa (Layard). 



E Mus. Salvin and Godman. 

 a. Turkey, b, c, <s . Ain Djendeli, North Africa, May 18th, 1857 (0. Salvin). 



E Mus. Howard L. Irhy. 

 a,i,b,%. Gibraltar, April 12th, 1874 [H. L. I.). 



