There ai'e four races of these dark rufous-throated Rock-Martins, of wliich C. fulignla 

 is the largest, C. anderssoni a pale form from S.W. Africa, C. rufigula is a lesser East- 

 African form, and C. concolor a still smaller Indian representative. 



Cot lie fidig ilia, from its hahits as given by Mr. Layard, and from what we know of 

 its Indian cousin C. concolor, belongs to the group of Eyock-Martins of which C. rupestris 

 is the typical form, as distinguished from the Sand-Martius, of wliich C. rlparia is the 

 type ; and should characters for the separation of the geniis Ptyonoprogne be found, the 

 present species would come under that heading, and be known as P.fuligiila. 



The first notice of this species appears to be in Levaillant's ' Oiseaux d'Afrique,' 

 where it is figured, but no scientific names appear to have been bestowed upon it till 

 1844, when Lichtenstein gave it that of fuligula, which is in all probability a misprint 

 for fulcigula. Forster's title of hiemalls was first published in the same year by 

 Lichtenstein, in his edition of the ' Descriptiones Animalium.' 



Mr. E. L. Layard, writing from Cape Town, says : — " This Swallow remains with 

 us all the year round, merely shifting its quarters from a town to a country residence. 

 As soon as our summer visitants are gone, these crowd into the villages and take their 

 places. We have counted upwards of one hundred sitting together on the cornices of 

 the Dutch Church in Cape Town on a cold day, basking in the sun. They breed in the 

 mountains and seem generally distributed, as we have received specimens from Damara 

 Land, Swellendam, Beaufort, and Colesberg ; and Victorin procured it at the Knysna. 

 AVe have also found them nesting under the eaves of houses in November. They lay 

 three or four eggs, of a creamy white, much spotted with brown, with liere and there a 

 grey jiatch ; in some these spots seem to form a circle at the obtuse end : axis 10'", 

 diameter 6'". The flight of this species is very slow and sailing, and they seek their prey 

 usually near rocks, and are more crepuscular in their habits than any of our other 

 species, often flying so far into the darkening twilight, that they can scarcely be dis- 

 tinguished from the Bats with which they mingle. Mr. II. Jackson writes from Nel's 

 Poort, on the 4th of January, 1869 : — ' "VVe have taken the eggs of a pair of Brown Martins 

 Ave times this season. Thej^ have their nests against the gable of my house and do not 

 forsake it when robbed, as do the Chats and others.'" 



According to the late Dr. Bradshaw, it remains throughout the year on the Orange 

 iliver, where it is most numerous near rocky hills, nesting under overhanging rocks. 

 He found a few pairs also breeding near Renhardt. Majors Butler and Eeilden and 

 Capt. Reid, in their paper on the birds of Natal, state that it is a familiar species in the 

 upper part of the colony, breeding in October and November. We saw beautiful speci- 

 mens collected by Major Butler in the neighbourhood of Newcastle, and we have 

 received a specimen from our excellent correspondent Mr. T. L. Ayres, from Pinetown 

 in Natal, where it would appear to be decidedly rare. 



Although it reaches the Transvaal, and has been shot near Potchefstroom in January 

 by Mr. T. Ayres, the latter naturalist considers it to be one of the scarcest of the Swallows 



