CHAPTER VI 



THE DISTANCES TRAVELLED BY BIRDS 



NOT only do the distances of the migration paths 

 of different species vary considerably, from a trip 

 of a few miles to a voyage from the Arctic to 

 the Antarctic, but the individuals of one and 

 the same species do not all travel to the same 

 degree. 



The familiar swallow, Hirundo rustica, though 

 subject to certain geographical variations, is found 

 throughout the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions, 

 nesting throughout Europe to between 63 and 70 

 north and in Africa north of the Sahara, where, 

 however, Canon Tristram found it also wintering 

 in the oases. South of the Sahara to the Cape it 

 is a winter visitor. In Asia it breeds, according 

 to Seebohm, in Asia Minor, Persia, Afghanistan, 

 and western Siberia, and winters in Scinde and 

 western India. One form breeds in and north of 

 the Himalayas, eastward to China and Japan, and 

 winters in India and Burma, and another ranges 

 from eastern Siberia across Behring Strait through- 

 out North America, so far south as Mexico. This 

 form winters in Burma, in Central America and 



E 65 



