4 



Hab. The whole of the western Palsearctic Region, extending into Central Asia and into the Indian 

 Peninsula. Wintering in the latter locality and in Africa. 



The House-Martin is easily recognized from tlie otlier species of the genus Chelido7i 

 by its strongly forked tail. Tlie only other species which has no black spot upon the 

 chin, but has the long upper tail-coverts black, is C. cashmiriensis. The latter species, 

 however, may be distinguished by its smaller size, less forked tail, and by the smoky- 

 brown tinge which pervades the Avhite under surface. As a general rule the above- 

 named characters are sufficient to distinguish the two species, Imt it must be confessed 

 that the smoky-brown tint of the under surface in C. cashmiriensis is often to be found 

 in examples of C. urhica. One specimen of a young bird, shot near Hove in Sussex, on 

 the IJitli of October, would certainly be ascribed to C. cashmiriensis but for its deeply 

 forked tail, which shows that it is C. urhica. 



As far as the British Islands are concerned, the Martin appears everywhere to be a 

 summer visitant, being as common in Ireland as it is in England, and nesting as far 

 north as Shetland and the Orkney Islands. It occurs also in all the islands of the Inner 

 Hebrides, and, until lately, was supposed to be absent in the Outer Hebrides, but in 

 1887 the Rev. H. A. Macpherson recorded a specimen from St. Kilda, and Messrs. 

 Harvie-Brown and Buckley give North E-onay as an additional locality. 



An excellent account of the distribution of the Martin in Northern Europe is given 

 in Mr. Dresser's ' Birds of Europe,' to which there seems little to be added. In the 

 Earoes, according to Mr. Benzon's note, the Martin not unfrequently appears in spring, 

 but does not breed. In Iceland its occurrences are very rare, and no instances of its 

 breeding in the island are on record, though Eaber states that in 1839 a few pairs 

 began to nest in Husevig in Northern Iceland, but very soon left the locality. 



In Scandinavia the species is generally distributed over the central and southern 

 districts, but becomes rarer than the Swallow in the extreme north. Mr. Collett's note 

 is as follows : — " It breeds in colonies throughout the eastern j)arts of Norway, but is 

 less numerous on the west coast, though not uncommon, and nests commonly in some 

 places, as, for instance, at Bergen. On the fells it breeds in and above the birch-region, 

 in colonies in the rocks on the Eillefjeld, Ilugakolleu in Valders, the Kvamenaaset in 

 Oie, the Blaahoerne, and other places in the Dovre range." Mr. Dresser states that 

 Pastor Sommerfelt found it breeding here and there in East Einmark as far north as 

 Vardo, and, according to AVoUey, a colony bred in a cliff near the Bogfjord in 

 South Varanger. It is common throughout Sweden, and visits Lapland, where 

 Mr. A. C. Chapman found them arriving and commencing to breed on the 4th of 

 June. Mr. Dresser noticed it everywhere in the parts of Einland that he visited, 

 but von Wright says that it only goes as far north as Aavasaksa, a little above 

 Tornea. 



Dr. Pleske, in his work on the Mammals and Birds of the Kola Peninsula, gives 



