NOTES FROM GIBRALTAR. 101 



east face of the Rock, the nest being situated on a ledge below 

 the highest point. The female was first observed on the nest on 

 the 28th January ; the young were fledged and gone about the 

 14th May. Only a single pair breed there yearly, for as soon as 

 the young can fly they are driven away, doubtless because the old 

 birds know that the supplies obtainable in the neighbourhood are 

 limited. By the 25th May the spring migration, such as it was, 

 had ended. 



On the occasion of one of my visits to Tangiers I noticed 

 rather a peculiar position selected for a nesting-place by a 

 Common Swallow, H. rustica ; this was inside a small entrance- 

 hall in Bruyeaud's Hotel ; a cornice runs round it about two feet 

 from the ceiling ; at one of the corners the nest was placed ; at 

 night the male used to roost on the cornice about a foot from the 

 nest. The peculiarity about the choice of this position was that it 

 was the most noisy place in the whole house ; at one side of the 

 hall was the main entrance, opposite to this the staircase, the 

 dining-room and smoking-room doors being on the other two 

 sides ; a large lantern hanging from the centre of the ceiling, 

 which was alwys kept burning till a late hour. 



A Squacco Heron, Ardea comata, was shot "between the 

 rivers," about four or five miles from the Rock, on the 20th May; 

 Col. Irby says he never observed one near Gibraltar. There 

 were three Crested Coots, Fulica cristata, shot in the same 

 locality, the first on the 27th May, the other two a few days later; 

 the plumage of all three was very much worn ; Col. Irby " never 

 saw this species in Andalusia." A Kingfisher, Alceclo hispida, 

 was seen in the cork woods, near Gibraltar, on the 23rd May ; I 

 myself saw one on the 5th June outside the line-wall, between the 

 Ragged Staff and the Waterport ; Col. Irby says, " I have no record 

 of its occurrence during the breeding season, i. e., not later than 

 the end of April; the majority arrive in October, leaving in 

 March." 



Although the avifauna of the Straits of Gibraltar has been so 

 well investigated by Col. Irby and others, there are still species 

 peculiar to each side of the Straits, the occurrence of which on 

 the other side would be a most interesting event, — e. g., the Blue 

 Titmouse, P. cceruleus, is found on the Spanish side, but is 

 represented on the African side by the Ultramarine Titmouse, 

 Parvs tener iffa; a similar case is that of the Common Chaffinch, 



