JG oulil AsKClüdtta: d el et hito
C Y P S E L T I S M E M B A
C Y P S E lí S MELBA.
A lp la* .'. ¿ ft.
Hirundo meiba, Linn. Syst Nat., tom. i. p. 345.
Cypselus melba, 111. Prod. Syst Mamm. et Av., p. $M>
Apus melba, Cut. R&g. Auim. (1817), tom. i. p. 32S.
Micropus melba, Boie, Isis, 184,4» p- 166-
Hirundo alpina, Scop. Ann. Hist. N a t, tom. i. p. 15*.
Cypselus alpinus, Temm. Man. d’Orn., 1815, p. 2*0.
Micropus alpinus, Mey. et Wolf, Taschenb. DeutsehL VSgv, tot».. i
Cypselus yuttrralis, Vieill. Nouv-. Diet. d’Hist Nat., tom. xsx- |
—— melius, Vieill. Gal. des Ots., tom. i. p. 195, pi *5
Hirundo gularis, Steph. Cont of Shaw’s Gen. Zuol., VÄ
T his fine Swift is a summer visitant to the eeatfsd tuSd ¡MflfliWt oí As it
name implies, it is also a denizen of the Alps, and, f o f the AgM&tf
peering to be peculiarly attractive to it, although it m s»sd »kí- to fifarss. in Herae an«
Fribourg, besides nnuiy other places, it is known to breed in the *í*epi¡r* A She eaáunlrttk and churches
o f those fine old towns. Like the Common Swift it is a migrant, and in die cart?
all the parts o f Europe it frequents, and passes into Africa; blow. for its «artetkW
iu the hitter country is not known, the bird from the Cape Colony formerly supposed to be the «ame having
been ascertained to be a distinct species. Besides being dispersed over Centra* and Somber* Europe, the
Alpine Swift is abundant in rhe Holy Land, Asia Minor, Persia, and, doubtless, ail tte s e n tr ie s to
Afghanistan and W estern India, where, as will he seen by Mr. Jerdon s notes give* •
Almost every person who has had an opportunit y o f observing this bird speak# »
vast powers of flight: it is not surprising, therefore, that an individual should at#* m
across the Channel to the British Islands, and course over our meads and fields «otó» A •;> Aid),
here is almost exclusively confined to England; for I find no record of its having t
only two instances o f its being killed in Ireland. The first specimen known *
in June 1820, by the bailiff o f the late R. Holford, Esq., at Kiugsgate, in the ?Mv ot‘
believe,,in the possession of R. B. Hale, Esq.., of AWerley P ark, Gloucestershire-
examples have been killed in this country—one in Norfolk, another in Essex, a thfaé i» &
Cambridgeshire, a fifth in Berkshire, and a sixth in Lancashire ; and there ¡M$ hm* bee» od*W* unknown
to me. Having had no opportunities of studying the habits of the bird myself, 1 1
o f those who have been more fortunately placed.
“ During the past summer,” says Mr. Hewitson, in a note to myself, “ I notw«d tfo» 1
I went in Switzerland, on the mountain-passes on both sides and a t the top of
Valais, and on the Righi. In former visits I saw it about the cathedral a t Bern*
a time watched its glorious flight, and witnessed how superior it is in speed to tfc* ■ «
the C. apus sweeps round you and below the promenade on which yon stand, dwa
flight high in the air.”
Bailly states that it is quite as common in the rocky portions of Savoy during • w
it is in Switzerland aud the Tyrol, that it arrives there from the lo th to the 2t)th of 4p*3
exclusively upon insects, which it captures as it skims along with astonishing rapid**
ditches, and the surface o f the water, into which it occasionally dips to secure its prey. 1
duty of incubation about the end of May, o r beginning o f June. Both sexes engage iu the <w
the nest, which is usually placed in a nearly always inaccessible cleft o f a rock, but occasionally mu
o r in a building situated on some mountainous ridge, and also under the stones on the roofs of tbi
t is externally composed of small sticks and roots, intermingled with which are pieces of straw, whkh
seize with such -address while skimming over the ground that the action is scarcely perceptible ; :
is lined with the catkins of poplars, the down o f flowers, &c., which they seize in a simitar Bfc
when blown about in the air, the whole being cemented together with the bird’s glutinous saliva,
are two or three in number, and of a pure white.
“ Cypselus melba," says the Rev. H. Tristram, “ though very abundant, is rather a local bird «*
Land, and only a summer migrant. The first time we noticed it was at daybreak, on February 1*
camped outside the walls of Jerusalem, we saw large flocks passing with amazing rapidity,
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