CYPSELIDA. 263 
THE ALPINE SWIFT. 
CYPSELUS MELBA (Linnzus). 
This large Swift was first noticed as one of our occasional visitors 
about midsummer 1829, when one was shot off the coast of 
Ireland; and since that time three or four more have been 
obtained, at long intervals, in that island. Upwards ofa score of 
instances are on record from various parts of England: mostly from 
the southern half, though one of them occurred as far north 
as Alnmouth in Northumberland. No captures have as yet been 
made in Scotland. With the exception of a bird taken near Dublin 
in March 1833, the occurrences authenticated have been between 
June and October; and for several reasons, coupled with the fact 
that I once captured an example on board ship in the Bay of Biscay 
early in August, I incline to the belief that the birds which come to 
us are from the Pyrenees or the Cantabrian range. 
The Alpine Swift is a very rare visitor to Heligoland, Germany, 
and the north of France, although it breeds no further off than the 
cliffs at Nolay on the western frontier of Burgundy. It also nests 
sparsely in the Vosges and the Jura; while in some parts of Savoy, and 
more plentifully in Switzerland, it annually resorts to high crags and 
towers, arriving at the end of April and leaving in September or 
October. All the high mountains of Central and Southern Europe 
are frequented by it during the summer; as well as the ranges 
of North Africa, Asia Minor, Palestine, Persia, Turkestan, and India 
as far east as Assam. [In the cold season, and during a considerable 
