98 CBAG SWALLOW. 



page 81, says, — "In summer H. alpestris is only seen on high 

 mountains, such as Taygetus, Q3ta, Velugi, etc. In cold clear winter 

 days it first approaches human dwellings, and extends solitarily among 

 them, and is seen in waving flights over the towns, which resemble 

 much more the Bee-eater than the Swallow. Here they pass the 

 winter, for I have shot them plentifully in the end of December." 



From Degland I take the following: — ^' H. alpestris is sufficiently 

 common in Switzerland, in Savoy, and in the Pyrenees. I have 

 received it from Bagnerre-di-Bigorre and Grenoble. M. Gerbe informs 

 me that it is abundant in the department of the Basses-Alpes, near 

 Moustiers, and in the Var among some of the high mountain rocks 

 which border the River Argent. M. Crespon reports it from the 

 department of Gard; and it is seen in its passage in some other spots 

 in Provence, Languedoc, Anjou, and the department of Isere. It 

 builds among the clefts in the anfractuosities of the rocks, making a 

 nest of tempered clay, small straws, and feathers. It lays five or six 

 white eggs, spotted with red, dark rust, or brown." 



"This species flies more slowly than its congeners, and always in 

 regions most elevated. It almost always seeks its food in an undulatory 

 flight above the rocks it inhabits. It arrives in Italy and in the 

 south of France before the other Swallows, and leaves last. M. Gerbe 

 thinks that some individuals hybernate in certain parts of Piedmont, 

 near the borders of France; because when the winter is not severe, 

 it is not rare to see them in the months of January and February 

 flying above the mouth of the Var, and at Nice above the river which 

 passes through that city. As this species moults before it emigrates, 

 which is peculiar to it, M. Gerbe also suggests that those individuals 

 which appear in a season where generally they are not seen again, 

 are the young ones of the last brood, and that a retarded moult has 

 obliged them to remain in our climate." 



Deputy Surgeon-General Stewart writes to me that he has procured 

 it at all seasons at Simla and Mussoorie, North- West Himalayas, and 

 in winter in the Valley of the Dhoon, at the foot of those mountains, 

 Jerdon restricts its habitat to the Nilgirries and South-East Himalayas, 

 "Darjelong." 



The male and female have the upper plumage ash grey, with the 

 wings and tail darker. Throat light fawn, gradually becoming darker 

 on the chest and abdomen; under wing coverts dark smoky brown; 

 under tail coverts hair brown; the tail feathers, with the exception of 

 the two median, and the two external, have an oval white spot on 

 their inner web; beak blackish; iris hazel, or, according to M. Roux 

 and M, Crespon, gold-colour. 



