al of these birds among the Hills of

s, and often descending to the ground. They were probably preparing to
i h run down towards the Jordan. From that time, throughout the
The Wady Hamam, opening into the plain of Gennesaret,
f the stupendous cliffs, hopelessly beyond
abit of selecting chinks under the over-
and could they have

i 3 Ww iced sever
i , » davs afterwards we notice
height, towards the north. A few days
Benjamin, disporting themselve
breed in some of the deep ravines whic
summer, we rarely lost sight of this noble bird. : E
r 4 7. J Re <i res
was a favourite resort of large flocks, which bred in the fissur a
imbe 2 ; their
the reach of the most ardent rock-climber and nester. From eee
< o Jedoes, it was impossible, even with the aid of ropes, to reac ;
He he pick an ied indefatigably to reach many of the nests. About
been attained, the pick and chisel must have been applied indefatigad!) ee aes ene ear
ing 1 1 1 igbtni ; wn the ravi 2 ‘
ashing In long lines, with lightning speed, do i : al g
his time in the morning we were able occasionally to secure a specimen ;
d higher, mingled with numbers of two other species, till in the
Q ry. x .
at last lost even to the keenest sight. ‘Towards evening
eeping close to the ground,

daybreak they might be seen d
themselves over the plain. AN
but very soon they began to rise higher an

depth of that dark, blue, cloudless sky they were
: than either of their associates, sometimes sw

»y began to descend flying lowe '
eee ei sound of the whirr of their wings

ewildering swiftness. The sharp, grating
but the eye could scarcely follow them.
ecure several specimens as they passed us. The motion of their
long sharp wings was scarcely perceptible. Near Safed ue found ; colony es a bag ce ee
cessible position, evidently having young, in the middle of May, ic obtaivedisevend shoo ut hac
neither time nor appliances to attempt their nests. Once only did we find this Sim breeding near the
On the 2nd of May we had climbed to the summit of Mount Gilead, overlooking the deep Jordan
one of the grandest panoramic views in Palestine. After standing for some time
which forms the western brow of the mountain, we descended to examine

and dashing past us with b a
é Ke : ve 1 moment ; However, as their flight was always
struck the ear for < ont 5

remarkably straight, we were able to secur

ground.
valley from the east side,
on a projecting platform of rock,
the face of the cliff, and discovered three large and partly artificial caves immediately below us. They were
a mass of fossilized ammonites ; and while hammering at these, in one of the caves out flew two Alpine
Swifts, whose nest we soon discovered in a crevice about six feet above the floor of the cavern. The chink,
which was about three inches in perpendicular diameter, was contracted by a plastering of very hard mud
which cost us some labour to work out. Inside, the cavity enlarged as it descended ; and, after scooping
away the clay and portions of the rock, I was at length able to touch the two eggs with the tips of ay
fingers, but was unable to remove them. This was the only instance in which we observed C. melba breeding
not in large colonies. Their roosting-places are few ; but what matters this to a bird that can traverse the
whole extent of the Holy Land in an hour? The bird does not appear to resort much to the Hermon or the
Lebanon, preferring the far more precipitous though lower cliffs which line the ravines running down to
the Ghor. One other nesting-place we noticed, in a spot certainly selected with a view to the picturesque.
Just above Ifka (Aphek) where the ground is strewn with the marble shafts of the famed temple of Venus,
at Adonis, the classic stream of the Adonis bursts, full-grown at birth, in a prodigious volume, from the foot
of a shallow cave under a lofty precipice. Here, on the 18th of June, a colony of Alpine Swifts were
busily engaged in feeding their young.”

“The scream of this bird is much louder than that of the common Swift, and quite as harsh. It appears
less reluctant than the common species to descend to the ground. It was interesting to observe how
rapidly the larger bird distances the others when the three species (C. melba, C. apus, and C. abyssinicus)
were disporting in mid-air together, and how a few of the giants would wheel and double backwards and
forwards, among a somewhat crowded flock of the little C. abyssenicus, and yet never part company from
them for any distance.” —Jbis, 1866, p. 77.

Speaking of the Alpine Swift as seen in India, Mr. Jerdon says it is not rare in the south, * all along
the range of the Western Ghats, from Honore to Cape Comorin, extending its daily flights often to the wes-
tern sea-coast, and occasionally eastwards to Salem, Madura, and even Madras. At times they are very
abundant on the Neilgherries, and, during the cold weather, may very generally be seen on the Malabar
coast. I discovered one roosting-place of this Swift on the magnificent precipices at the Falls of Gairsoppa.
Here, especially on the cliffs on each side of the great fall, above 900 feet of perpendicular height, these
Swifts were congregated in vast numbers; and, from some of them remaining about the cliffs at all times of
the day, I have little doubt that they bred there. Tickell observed the Alpine Swift in Central India,
bere he says it is ‘common in all the more elevated regions, but flies so high as to escape observation—and
that it resorts much to the tops of high rocks or wooded hills, the summits of which it flies round with

rreat velocity. Flocks ti assemble -eni mal aie 5 , ae
gree y sometimes assemble of an evening near large ponds in the jungles, dashing into the

water with loud screams lik r Swi : ‘ 7 know i

a Bo ike our Swift athome.’ It has not, to my knowledge, been observed in the eastern

Himalayas, but it is said to be common in the hills to the N.W. at all seasons, extendin
. . : = zi

Punjaub, Cashmere, &c., during the cold weather.” — Birds of India, vol.i. p. 175.

ore 1s sre vey ’ < ~ e
There is no difference in the colouring of the sexes, which are figured of the natural size.

g its flight to the