258 MR. J. H. GURNEY ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF SWITZERLAND. 
the plains and vineyards at Montreux, and in such time of severity 
the Eagle Owl is sometimes even shot by the lake. A furrier at 
Yevey said he had had four, driven perhaps from the Gorge du 
Chauderon. 
Berne, the capital of Switzerland, is a picturesque and beautiful 
city, worth a visit if for no other reason than to see the Alpine 
Swifts ( Cypselus melba), whose distribution is pretty wide, as will 
be seen from the accompanying map after Fatio and Studer ( l.c .). 
The dark represents the area where they habitually breed, where 
it is crossed with white is where they sometimes breed, and the 
arrowheads mean that they pass on migration, or are seen during 
the summer, habitually or at intervals. These authors have pub- 
lished similar maps of several species of birds of prey, very valuable 
for study in a country like Switzerland. 
The entire spire of the Cathedral at Berne is quite new, being 
in fact not entirely finished ; and the former fine colony of two 
hundred and more ‘ Grands Martinets ’ is reduced to about two pair, 
and even these, according to the head bellringer, had not bred, and 
my son and I could see no signs of a nest. Some, however, were 
passing in and out of the holes in the tower of Nydeclc Church, 
hard by the bridge. Mr. J. Grimm, taxidermist, who kindly gave 
much information, said there had always been two or three other 
places besides the Cathedral, where they nested, in Berne, notably 
on one of the two high clock-towers, and in a large ‘ Caserne ’ by 
the station. 
The nests are circular, substantial, saucer-shaped structures, built 
up of sticky mud, and further welded together by the birds’ saliva, 
bound with straw, bents of grass, pieces of paper, and morsels of 
cloth ; all substances which have been whirled high up in the air, 
except the mud. As it is said this long-winged bird dare not settle 
on the ground, it is not clear how it gets the mud, but much of it 
may be, in reality, a mucous secretion from the salivary glands. 
Several nests are to be seen in the Town Museum, with nests of 
the Common Swift beside them, but the Alpine Swifts’ nests are 
half as large again. A full complement of eggs is stated to be 
three or four, and incubation to last about twenty days, which 
is more than in Cypselus opus (cf. ‘Ibis,’ 1891, p. 64). The 
nestlings have decidedly capacious mouths, which Mr. Grimm 
said in life were yellow. The first feathers begin to appear on the 
