exactly resembles that of our House-Martin, but the l)irds seemed to be very capricious 

 in selecting a house where they might trust their young. One house in particular seemed 

 to be the favourite ; and here the eaves were crowded with rows of nests, in some places 

 three or four deep. The eggs are, if anything, larger than those of our bird, but are also 

 pure white. I observed this bird up to 69° N. lat., where a few pairs were breeding. I 

 could not perceive any difference in the habits or notes of these birds and those of our 

 own species. On the return journey I noticed a colony, doubtless of these birds, wliich 

 had built their nests against the limestone cliffs of tiie Kah'-nin Pass, as our bird fre- 

 quently does in the limestone districts of Yorkshire, the Parnassus, &c. As I passed 

 through Yen-e-saisk in the middle of August, the House-Martins were swarming on the 

 church-towers, preparing for departure on their autumn migration. Wlien these Swallows 

 began to make preparations for breeding, the ' Thames ' was riding at anchor in the Koo- 

 ray-i-ka. Some scores of these birds evidently took a great fancy to the ship, and began 

 to build their nests on the sails under the yard-arms." 



According to the late Dr. Severtzoff the present species occurs on passage in 

 Tui'kestan, and probably breeds there ; but he did not meet with it on the Pamir. 

 General Prjevalsky found it breeding in Mongolia, to the north-east of Yulduz. 



Mr. Fleming, E-.A., procured a specimen near Pekin which the late Mr. Swinhoe 

 described as a new species under the name of Chelidon ivhitehji, though he soon after- 

 wards found that it was tlie same as C. lagopus. " This specimen," he writes, " is the 

 only one of this species from China that I have ever handled ; and the only time that I 

 ever saw the bird alive was on the 8th of April, 1869, when, on some hills near the river 

 Yangtsze, about 1000 miles up its course, a pair of white-rumped Martins flew about over 

 the heads of our party, in company with many Dauurian and a few Common Swallows." 



Abbe David has also met with the species in China, nesting on the lofty rocks of the 

 mountains to the west of Pekin, as well as at Moupin and in the Central provinces. 

 They seemed to differ from the Common Martin in that they were nowhere plentiful, 

 and he never observed them in towers or in the immediate vicinity of buildings. 



Erom the above resume of this Inrd's history it will be seen that we do not know 

 much of its winter home. Colonel Tickell writes that he found Martins in great numbers 

 near Moulraein in Burmah, where they " appear from time to time ; not constantly, as 

 does H. rustical Prom Tickell's description and figure there is, as Mr. Seebohm lias 

 pointed out (Hist. Brit. B. ii. p. 179, note), no doubt about the species, as the bird is 

 described and figured with the ujiper tail-coverts white; but no one has met wilh it in 

 Burmah since — neither Mr. Oates, Captain Bingham, nor Mr. Davison — and it cannot be 

 considered a reguLu- winter visitant to that countrv. Colonel Tickell would seem lo have 

 been witness to an accidental migration of the species. 



The description and the figure in the Plate in-c both takcMi from a s])("ciiiieii kindly 

 lent to us by Mr. Seebohm. 



x2 



