THE TYPICAL SWIFTS. 
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win^s and tail ; under surface of body white, with a band of 
dark brown across the chest, the feathers composing it being 
narrowly edged with white ; under tail-coverts and marginal 
under wing-coverts also edged with white ; flanks brown and 
edged with white, before which is a sub-terminal bar of darker 
brown ; bill black ; feet dull flcsh-colour j iris dark brown. 
Total length, 8-5 inches; culmen, o'5 ; wing, 8-45; tail, 2-k: 
outer feathers, 3-5; tarsus, 0-6. 
Adnlt Female. — Similar to the male. Total length, 8-3 inches ; 
wing, 8-3. 
Young. — Similar to the adults, but having white fringes to 
the brown feathers. 
Range in Great Britain — Of accidental occurrence only, though 
it has been recorded more than twenty times. In Scotland it 
has not yet been noticed, but has occurred in Ireland once, a 
specimen having been captured near Dublin, in March, 1833. 
The other instances of its capture have taken place between 
the months of June and October. 
Range outside the British Islands. — A regular summer visitor to 
the Alps of Southern Europe, wandering occasionally to 
Northern France, Germany, and Heligoland. Mr. Howard 
Saunders states that the species nests in the cliffs of Nolay on 
the western frontier of Burgundy, as well as in the Vosges and 
Savoy. In Switzerland it :s a well-known species, and its 
range extends through the mountains of South-eastern Europe 
as far east as Persia and the tiimalayas. Its winter home 
appears to be in Northern and North-eastern Africa, and it 
extends also over the whole of the Indian Peninsula and 
Ceylon. In Eastern and Southern Africa its place is taken by 
a resident species, Af. africanus, which has been generally sup- 
posed to be the same as Af. melba, but it is now separated as a 
distinct species by Mr. Hartert. 
Hahits.— This large Swift is a conspicuous feature of the 
localities it inhabits, and is particularly to be noticed round 
the Cathedral at Berne, which is tenanted by a large colony of 
these birds every summer. They arrive in that town in April, 
and, like other Swifts, often suffer from hunger and cold, if the 
weather happens to be inclement, and Dr. Fatio and Professor 
