178 BRITISH BIRDS. 



HIRUNDO URBICA. 

 HOUSE-MARTIN. 



(PLATE 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 8f Gerbe), 



(Salvador*), (Dresser), (Neioton), &c. 

 Chelidon urbica (Linn.), Boie, 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 Vardo in 

 lat. 70^, and in Vadso 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 

 and 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, 



