As a general rule, the Swift is not observed in this country before the third week in May, and is seldom seen after the third week in August. It is found throughout the mainland of the British Islands, and breeds also in Mull and Iona, but not in Orkney or Shetland, nor in the Outer Hebrides. It does not travel quite so far north as either the Chimney Swallow or the Martin, but the late Mr. Wolley saw it on the Faroes,[79] and Mr. Wheelwright frequently observed it hawking over the high fells at Quickjock, Lapland, during the summer.[80] If we look for the bird during the months that it is absent from Great Britain, we find that it is very abundant at the Cape of Good Hope in winter, arriving about September 5, and departing northwards in April. It is seen in Natal more or less all the year round, but more plentifully during the summer.[81] The climate of Lower Egypt is apparently too cold for this species in winter, but at that season it is resident and abundant in Upper Egypt.[82] As winter disappears it gradually moves northward, and a month before it arrives in England it is found in some numbers along the entire coast-line of the Mediterranean. Mr. Osbert Salvin saw it at Tunis on the 8th March, and subsequently numerous at Algiers. In the middle of March, Mr. Chambers found it plentiful at Tripoli, and at the end of the same month it was observed by Mr. Howard Saunders at Gibraltar. In the middle of April, Lord Lilford remarked that it was common in the neighbourhood of Madrid; about which time, according to Messrs. Elwes and Buckley (“Ibis,” 1870, p. 200), it usually makes its appearance in Turkey, arriving there doubtless from the Ionian Islands,[83] Egypt and Palestine, where it is said to appear in the last week of March.[84] From Spain, through France, to England is but a short journey for a bird with powers of wing like the Swift; and hence one is not surprised to see hawking over the South Downs in May the birds which but a week previously were circling round the Moorish towers of Spain. Its return southward in autumn is apparently by the same route as that chosen for its northward journey in spring, and in this respect it differs in habit from many other species.[85] In India its place is to a certain extent taken by a non-migratory species, _Cypselus affinis_, but it has nevertheless been met with in that country. An Indian specimen was received from Dr. Jerdon, presumably from the north-west.[86] It has also been forwarded from Afghanistan,[87] and Dr. Stoliczka found it at Leh, in Western Thibet. I am aware that some naturalists have expressed doubts as to the identity of the Swift found at the Cape of Good Hope with _Cypselus apus_; but, after an examination of several examples of the African bird, I have been unable to discover that it differs in any material respect from our well-known summer migrant. THE ALPINE SWIFT. (_Cypselus alpinus._)