178 BRITISH BIRDS. 
HIRUNDO URBICA. 
HOUSE-MARTIN. 
(Puare 17.) 
Hirundo minor, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 490 (1760). 
Hirundo urbica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 344 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— 
Gmelin, Scopoli, Latham, Temminck, (Bonaparte), Naumann, (Degland § Gerbe), 
(Salvadori), (Dresser), (Newton), &e. 
Chelidon urbica (Linn.), Bove, Isis, 1822, p. 550. 
The House-Martin, better known as the Martin, is almost as popular a 
favourite as the Swallow, for which it is often mistaken; but it may be 
readily distinguished from that bird, even on the wing, by its white rump 
and shorter tail. It is distributed throughout England, and is a common 
summer visitor to the Channel Islands. In Scotland it is almost as widely 
dispersed as in England; but, according to Mr. Gray, it is absent altogether 
from the Outer Hebrides, although common enough in the inner islands. 
It is said by Baikie and Heddle to breed in Orkney; and although most 
numerous in Shetland at the periods of migration a few remain to breed. 
In Ireland it is quite as well known and as common as in England. It 
is said to be a rare visitor to Iceland, where, in 1819, Faber states that nests 
of this bird were commenced, but left unfinished. It is also found on 
the Faroes in spring, but does not appear ever to remain to breed. 
The House-Martin breeds throughout Europe, ranging somewhat 
further north than the Barn-Swallow. It has been recorded in Scandi- 
navia as breeding in the most northerly towns, for example in Vard6 in 
lat. 704°, and in Vadsé in lat. 70°. In Archangel, however, it is much 
rarer than the Barn-Swallow ; and Harvie-Brown and I did not meet with 
it in the valley of the Petchora. It occasionally straggles to the Canaries 
aud Madeira, and breeds abundantly in North-west Africa. In Egypt and 
Nubia it is only known on migration; but it breeds in Palestine, Asia 
Minor, and Persia. Scarcely any thing is known of its winter-quarters, 
which probably are somewhere in Central Africa. A few birds are 
supposed to winter in Algeria, and stragglers are. said to occur in 
Turkestan and India. 
Some doubt attaches to the occurrence of the House-Martin east of the 
Ural Mountains. Finsch observed a colony in the valley of the Obb in lat. 
64°; but, as he neglected to obtain any specimens, it is impossible to say to 
which species they belonged. They probably were the European species, 
