HIRUNDIN1D.E. 93 



HIRUNDINID^. 



93. Hirundo rustica, Liunseus. The Common Swallow. 



Moorish. Khotaifa. Spanish. Golondrina. 



" Great flights of Swallows pass in January and February to 

 Europe, returning in September and October to join those which 

 remain near Tangier to nest, all leaving to go further south for 

 the winter. The Moors believe that it oifends God to kill these 

 birds, in the same way as they believe it pleases or soothes the 

 Evil One to kill the Raven, The stories on which this supersti- 

 tion is founded are too long to relate ; but I was informed by 

 one person that the Swallows and White Storks were inspired by 

 Allah to protect the harvest and the country from noxious insects 

 and reptiles, and that the birds themselves (knowing the benefits 

 they confer on man) ask in return protection for their offspring 

 by building their nests on the walls of towns and houses, and 

 that therefore any one who kills them must be a Kaffir, i. e. not 

 a true believer of the Prophet, especially as the birds would only 

 be killed for mischief, being useless when dead." Favier. 



I wish this belief could be instilled into the minds of English 

 people, who kill and destroy every rare bird they see, through 

 ignorance, love of destruction, and to gratify the cupidity of 

 private collectors. 



About Gibraltar the Swallow generally arrives about the 13th 

 of February, although a straggler is occasionally seen in December 

 and January. I have observed them crossing the Straits in 

 considerable numbers up to the 15th of April; the latest passing 

 were noticed on the 24th of that month. Their migration, like 

 the nest of the Hirundinida?, is spread over a considerable period ; 

 I have observed the nest finished on the 23rd of February, and 

 young birds able to fly on the 24th of May. One of each pair, 

 when they first arrive, is tinged with a rufous-buff colour on the 

 underparts ; and as these are slightly larger in size, I think they 

 are the male birds ; but did not, even for the sake of proving 



