104 SWALLOW. 



merely observing that, by way of Asia, a connection appears to be 

 established near Lake Baikal with the North American Swallow, 

 H. erytkiogaster of Boddaert, better known as JI. horreorum. The 

 latter, although found in Greenland, does not cross the Atlantic to 

 Britain, nor has our bird been observed further west than about 180 

 miles beyond the Azores. In Egypt there is a resident subspecies, 

 H. savigiiii, with the under parts nearly as ruddy as the throat. 



The nest was, no doubt, originally built in caves, and even now 

 these are sometimes resorted to, but at the present day it is usually 

 placed about human habitations or buildings of some kind ; often it 

 is in chimneys, though almost any ledge or projection will serve ; 

 while exceptionally it has been found in forked boughs of trees, and 

 in even more remarkable sites. Mud, with a mixture of short straws, 

 and a lining of fine grasses and feathers, is the material employed, 

 and the structure has generally the shape of half a saucer ; the eggs, 

 laid from May i8th onwards, and usually 4-6 in number, are white, 

 blotched and speckled with several shades of grey and brown : 

 measurements "82 by "54 in. Two broods are produced in the season, 

 but I have known even three hatched by the same pair of (marked) 

 birds, although I believe that the last brood, still in the nest on 

 October 23rd, was not reared. To the extreme south of Europe the 

 Swallow returns by the end of Ja^nuary, and below Seville I found 

 many nestlings by April i6th. With us large flocks collect together 

 in autumn, prior to their departure for the south, and are then 

 conspicuous on roofs, trees and telegraph-wires, especially in the 

 vicinity of water. The food consists mainly of gnats and crane-flies 

 in spring, with small beetles in summer. The soft, low twittering 

 .song can hardly be described ; the alarm-note may be syllabled as 

 feet-a-feet, feet-a-feetit. 



The adult male in spring has the forehead and throat dark chest- 

 nut ; crown, upper parts and pectoral band deep metallic blue ; 

 quills dark bluish-green ; tail-feathers bottle-green, with white patches 

 on the inner webs of all except the central pair, the long outside 

 streamers often two inches longer than the next ; belly and under 

 wing-coverts buff; under tail-coverts pale chestnut ; bill, legs and feet 

 black, and very small. Length 7*5 in.; wing 4*9 in. The female 

 has the tail shorter, the forehead less chestnut, and the under parts 

 whiter. The young are duller in colour ; the frontlet and throat are 

 pale chestnut, and the spots on the tail are tinged with rufous. The 

 moult takes place in winter, and I noticed that the birds which were 

 breeding in the south of Spain in April had not then attained the 

 warm buff tint on the under parts, which I observed later. 



