96 HIRUNDINID.E. 



97. Cotile rupestris (Scopoli). The Crag-Martin. 



Spanish. Vencejillo. 



" Nearly as common as the House-Martin about Tangier. 

 Sometimes they pass in large flights, crossing the Straits in 

 February and March, returning in October and November." 

 Favier. 



The Crag-Martin, though universally distributed during the 

 breeding-season in the rocky sierras, is to a great extent migra- 

 tory. Those which do not quit the country appear during the 

 daytime in low ground near the coast about the middle of 

 October, great numbers being then seen at Gibraltar. In March 

 they return to their breeding-haunts, some nesting in inaccessible 

 places at the " back of the Rock." 



They commence about the 10th of March to build their nests, 

 which resemble those of the Swallow, H. rustica, but being placed 

 on the roofs of caverns are very difficult to reach ; and I did not 

 succeed in examining the inside of one. The birds were sitting 

 by the 30th of April. One locality for nests near Gibraltar, and 

 the most accessible that I have seen, was a cave in a patch of 

 rocks at the entrance of La Trocha, on the road from Algeciraz 

 to Ojen, where it passes by the side of the ravine called la 

 Garganta del Capitan. 



At the back of the Rock, at Gibraltar, is a cave almost under 

 the Osprey's eyry, which can only be entered by landing from a 

 boat in fair weather. This cave is very large and open, with 

 sand at the bottom sloping upwards for a considerable distance at 

 a sharp angle, and at the end, judging from the tracks of divers 

 Genets or Striped Cats (Viuerra), seems to be the regular dining- 

 room of these animals ; for whenever we visited the place it was 

 covered with the tail-feathers and pinions of numbers of Rock- 

 Martins mingled with those of a good many Swifts, Rock-Doves, 

 and a few Lesser Kestrels. 



Above mouse-coloured ; underparts huffish brown. Oval white spots on 

 all but the centre and outer tail-feathers. Length 5 inches. 



