NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 121 



never-failing palm. The swallow and window martin thread the 

 lanes and sport over the months of the wells in pursuit of the 

 swarming mosquitos ; the hoopoe solemnly stalks on every dung- 

 hill, a cherished and respected guest. These peaceful retreats 

 seem to be rarely visited by any raptor more formidable than 

 the kestrel, or little owl (Athene numida)." Again : " A few pairs 

 of swallows (Hirmido rustica) remained all the winter in each 

 oasis ; but none of those observed were in mature plumage, and 

 I therefore presume that it is only the younger and weaker birds 

 who stay behind. The Arabs informed me that for one swallow 

 they have in winter they have twenty in summer, and that they 

 usually retire about the end of November, returning in February. 

 Certainly very few had arrived by the end of February, though 

 in the beginning of that month I saw myriads on the wing at 

 P.ishra, which must have remained for some time in that neigh- 

 bourhood, as they did not reappear in any considerable numbers 

 in Tunis till the beginning of March. But throughout the 

 whole winter a few were to be seen wherever there was water or 

 marsh. The natives are perfectly familiar with the fact of the 

 migration' of vast flocks to the south, which all go, as they say, 

 to Timbuctoo, the El Dorado of Arab and swallow. A few 

 pairs of the martin (H, urbica) may everywhere be seen through- 

 out the winter, while in summer, I am told, there is not a hovel 

 without several building in the comers of the doorways, where 

 their nests may generally be seen. Those which I shot were in 

 immature plumage. Sand martins (H. riparia) do not appear to 

 winter in the Sahara, and can only, I imagine, be stragglers 

 there at any time, as the weeds and oases afford them but few 

 conveniences for nidification. Both the white-bellied swift 

 (Cypselus melba) and the common swift (C. apus) resort to the 

 cliffs and the mosque-towers for nidification, but, unlike the 

 swallow and martin, retire altogether in winter to still more south- 

 ern regions. The common swift had not left El Aghouat during 

 the first week in November." 



MIGRATORY BIRDS LEAVING THE SOUTH COAST. Mr. G. D. 

 llowley, of Brighton, writes in the Ibis, No. V. p. 101 : " Living 

 on the south coast in spring and autumn, I have good oppor- 

 tunities of marking the arrival and departure of some birds. I 

 have seen the swallows (Hirundo), over the sea, actually arrive 

 and pass straight inland without a pause or the least show of 

 weariness. Not so the chiff-chaffs and willow- wrens, which stay 

 about the shingle at first till they recover their strength. At 

 least I have seen them at five o'clock on a spring morning 

 within a few yards of the waves. In autumn, on certain days 



VOI,. II. K 



