408 
ALPINE SWIFT. 
mass by simultaneous impulse, and utter their 
cry in the same united manner, and they form, 
as it were, an accompaniment associated with 
old or ecclesiastical buildings, which is almost 
inseparable from them. , 
The range of the Swift in Britain is general, 
at the same time local, and on the Continent it is 
we believe similar In Britain, it is one of 
our latest visiters, and one of our earliest to 
depart. Their -whole time is occupied in the 
duties of incubation, and so soon as these are 
completed, and the young able to travel, their 
departure is commenced. Of its range out of 
Europe we are uncertain. Temminck says they 
do not migrate beyond the tropics. We possess 
specimens from Madeira. 
The length of the common Swift to the extre- 
mity of the bill, is only about seven inches and 
a quarter ; that of the wing about six inches and 
three quarters ; the plumage is of a uniform 
shining brownish black, glossed with green ; the 
chin and throat in the male nearly white, in the 
female smoke gray. In our specimen from 
Madeira, the plumage is of a much paler tint, 
the throat and chin pure white. 
The Alpine Swift, Cypselcs Alpincs, 
Temm. — C. melba, Gmel. — Alpine or White- 
bellied Swift of British authors. — This species, 
according to Temminck, inhabits the Alps in 
Switzerland and the Tyrol, and the coasts and 
