HIRUNDO BUSTICA 183 



no doubt belated stragglers, possibly young birds of very late broods. 

 Canon Tristram {Ibis, 1859, p. 485) mentions having observed 

 Swallows in the oases of Southern Algeria during the winter, but their 

 presence was no doubt accidental. The naturalist Blanc also tells me 

 he has seen Swallows in Tunis and at Bizerta towards the end of 

 December, and Mr. Aplin met with the species near Gabes in South 

 Tunisia in the month of February ; but similar instances are recorded 

 from time to time from countries further north than Tunis, and can 

 only be looked upon as accidental and exceptional cases. In Central 

 Tunisia I have noticed Swallows in considerable numbers at the end 

 of February, and the first arrivals there may probably be seen a few 

 days before that date, and still earlier in the far south of the Regency. 

 By the end of March the spring passage of these birds may be said to 

 be at its height, and continues in full swing until the middle or 20th 

 of April, when it commences to diminish, coming practically to a close 

 by the end of that month or beginning of May, although a few 

 stragglers arrive even after that date. The return migration in 

 Tunisia commences early in September, and continues throughout 

 that month and part of October. During both periods of migration 

 vast flocks of these birds may be observed of an evening, when 

 they descend from the higher latitudes at which they may have been 

 travelling, and congregate together, preparatory to roosting. This 

 they do generally under the eaves of buildings or outhouses, and 

 sometimes in trees, keeping close together, side by side, for warmth. 

 I remember on one occasion seeing a row of several hundreds of 

 Swallows perching on a horizontal bar or girder extending the whole 

 length of a long railway shed, and within a foot or two of a person's 

 head. 



Naturally fearless and confiding, the Swallow seems to court the 

 society of man and frequents human habitations in preference to the 

 open, uninhabited country. In some of the Tunisian villages I have 

 seen Swallows nesting, and evidently quite at home, in the smallest 

 and most crowded houses, circling round and round the interior of the 

 rooms in their chase after flies, and darting in and out through the 

 open doorways as unconcernedly as possible. I have myself slept in 

 one of these rooms, with a Swallow's nest over the head of my bed, 

 my first thought on waking at daybreak, being to throw open the 

 door, the only aperture the room had, in order to release the owners of 

 the nest. 



