C y p s e l u s m e lb a (Linnaeus*).
THE ALPINE SWIFT.
Cypselus alpinusf.
At least eighteen examples of this Swift are now recorded
as having been taken within the limits of the British Islands
; the first of which was shot at sea eight or ten miles
from the south coast of Ireland about midsummer 1829, and
was sent by Mr. Sinclaire to Selby, as mentioned by him in
1831 (Edinb. Journ. Nat. and Geogr. Sc. n.s. iii. p. 170;
Trans. N. H. Soc. Northumb. i. p. 291). A second specimen,
“ since ”, according to Mr. Jenyns (Br. Yert. p. 160),
killed at Kingsgate in the Isle of Thanet, was seen by Mr.
Gould in 1832 (P. Z. S. 1832, p. 130), and, subsequently
passing into the possession of Mr. R. B. Hale, was lent by
him for the-use of this work, the figure above inserted being
drawn from it.t According to Mr. E. P. Thompson (Notebook
* Hirundo melba, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 345 (1766).
+ Hirundo alpina, Seopoli, Annus I. Historico-Naturalis, p. 166 (1769).
J In former editions of this work the bird was said to have been “ shot early
of a Naturalist, p. 226) an example flew into a room at Dover,
August 20th, 1830, and was secured; but this statement
was not published till 1845. The fourth bird was shot in the
latter part of September, 1831, at Old Buckenham in Norfolk
(Mag. N. H. vi. p. 286; Field-Nat. i. p. 172), and was afterwards
presented by Mr. Fulcher, who obtained it, to the Museum
at Norwich. A fifth, being the second Irish occurrence,
is said by W. Thompson (P. Z. S. 1834, p. 29*) to have been
killed at Rathfarnham, near Dublin, early in March 1833,
and to be preserved in the collection of Mr. Warren, to whom
it was sent while perfectly fresh. The sixth example was
picked up dead at Hinxton near Saffron-Walden, in July
1838, as communicated to the Author by Mr. Joseph Clarke.
On October 8th, 1841, an example, killed at Wokingham,
was seen by the Author before it was skinned, Mr. Gould
having brought it to London to preserve. It is now in Mr.
Bond’s collection. Couch (Corn. Fauna, iii. p. 147) states
that in June 1842, one was taken on board a vessel about
forty miles west of the Land’s End. Thompson says that
an example was shot at Doneraile in the county Cork in June
1844 or 1845. In October 1851, one was knocked down,
while sitting on a rail, at St. Leonard’s, and passed into the
possession of Mr. Johnson of that place (Zool. p. 3300). In
the same year an example' was exhibited to the Somerset
Archaeological and Natural History Society (Nat. 1851,
p. 234) as having been killed in that county—near Ax-
bridge, as Mr. Cecil Smith, who has since seen it, believes.
Mr. Rodd records (Zool. p. 6808 and s.s. p. 2240)
one, now in his collection, shot at Mylor near Falmouth in
the summer of 1859, and also another obtained some years
before near the Lizard. In August 1860, a specimen, now
the property of Mr. Whitaker, was shot at Finchley, as
in June 1820.’’ Mr. Jenyns’s assertion above quoted indicates that herein was a
mistake, and possibly 1830 was the year in which it occurred. Mr. Gould
unfortunately did'not give the date, and can now throw no light on the matter.
* The first record of this is in t h e ‘Dublin Penny Journal’ (i. p. 320) of
March 30th, 1833, where it is said (incorrectly, according to Thompson) to have
occurred in the preceding February. Its appearance in a northern latitude, so
early as March, is of itself surprising enough.