226 
Mr. C. A. Wright’s Fifth Appendix to a 
few days previously, and was so tame as readily to pick up 
seed and sip water in the presence of persons looking at it, 
but was easily startled and frightened if approached too sud¬ 
denly. Its note was a single sharp tseet , uttered once, or re¬ 
peated two or three times at short intervals. On dissection 
it proved to be a male, probably a young bird, and very thin, 
although its crop was nearly full of hemp-seed ; but this kind 
of food probably did not agree with it. In plumage it re¬ 
sembles exactly the upper figure in Breeds f Birds of Europe,” 
who also gives a very accurate description. Like the plumage 
attributed to the female, it has no russet on the throat, and 
presents a cream-coloured streak extending backwards from 
the eye. Its bright russet cheeks and ear-coverts, together 
with an irregular black band running over each side of the head, 
above the eye, from the base of the beak to the nape, and its 
diminutive size will help to distinguish it at a glance. The 
beak is straight, or nearly so, very sharp, and pointed, and 
slightly reversed at the tip. Upper mandible small. Irides 
black, or extremely dark brown; legs and feet light yellowish 
brown. Carefully measured in the flesh, its length was 
slightly over 5 inches, from carpal to end of wing 2| inches. 
273. Cypselus pallidus, Shelley. Egyptian Swift. 
Undoubted examples of this Swift have been taken in 
Malta in May of the present year. Capt. Feilden procured 
one in the market on the 18th; and I obtained another at 
Salini on the 27th. Both specimens were females and in 
good condition. In mine the ovary was beginning to enlarge; 
He observed a bird on the 13th, which must have belonged 
to this species, in company with common Swifts; and, on the 
wing, it reminded him of a large Sand-Martin. I am nearly 
certain that I have shot this light-coloured Swift before ; 
and one occasion especially recurs to my memory. This 
was in August, when I killed several out of a large flock on 
Fort-Manoel Island. Unfortunately I did not preserve any, 
mistaking them for the young of C. apns. Little doubt now 
remains on my mind that Cypselus pallidus visits us, both in 
spring and autumn, and is probably a regular migrant to 
