206 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



red patch on the lower back. Some ten days afterwards 

 this bird was found by Mr. Stout dead and much decom- 

 posed, but was fortunately sent to me for identification, 

 when I found it to be an adult example of the Red-rumped 

 Swallow, the Hirundo rufula of Temminck, a bird which has 

 not hitherto been detected in our islands. 



This handsome species is a regular summer visitor to 

 south-eastern Europe, where it ranges as far west as Italy, 

 but only occurs as a straggler westwards, having been occa- 

 sionally met with in Malta and France. Northwards it 

 has seldom been observed beyond the Alps, though it has 

 once visited Heligoland, namely, on the 3Oth of May 1855, 

 when a single bird was obtained which passed into the 

 collection of that prince among bird-observers, Heinrich 

 Gatke, as related in "Die Vogelwarte Helgoland" (pp. 436- 

 438). Eastwards it ranges through Asia Minor and Palestine 

 to Persia, Afghanistan, and Turkestan ; and in winter it is 

 found in Abyssinia. 



Mr. Whitaker, in his valuable and interesting work on 

 the "Birds of Tunisia" (vol. i. p. 186), tells us that the 

 Arab bird-catchers occasionally catch one or two when 

 netting Common Swallows in the spring ; and though not 

 abundant, it is probably less rare than it is generally supposed 

 to be, but escapes notice owing to the difficulty in distinguish- 

 ing it from the ordinary species. Mr. Whitaker also informs us 

 that this bird is resident and abundant in southern Morocco. 



Heligoland has hitherto formed the northern limit of 

 its wanderings in Europe ; and that it should have ventured 

 to the remote Fair Isle, and made that the Ultima Thule of 

 its peregrinations, is both remarkable and inexplicable, as, 

 indeed, are many other facts connected with the movements 

 of birds. 



Hirundo rufula, though having a general resemblance 

 to our familiar summer guest, may at once be known by the 

 peculiarity to which it owes its name, to wit, the possession 

 of a conspicuous band of rufous chestnut across the lower 

 portion of its back. It has also a stripe over the eye and a 

 broad band on the nape of the same rufous colour ; while the 

 under surface of its body is buff, tinged with chestnut, and 

 has a striated appearance, owing to the shafts of the feathers 



