9 



tliat, according to Mr. Enwald's notes, it does not visit Russian Lapland or Kemi- 

 Lappmark and was not observed by him at all during 1882 and 1883. Xikolski remarks 

 on its very rare occurrence on the Varangerfjord. Mela informs Dr. Pleske in a letter 

 that he noticed it in Soukelo. In Archangel Mr. Seebohm found the Barn-Swallow 

 a common summer visitor, and throughout Finland it is plentifully distributed. 



Everywhere throughout Germany, Denmark, the Low Countries, and Erance +he 

 Common Swallow is a regular visitor in summer. In the soutli of Europe it arrives 

 much earlier than in the north. Mr. Howard Saunders observed the first birds at 

 Lausanne, in Switzerland, ou the 6th of April, but he heard of its arrival at Ouchy some 

 days earlier. He says it was seldom seen as high up as Chaumont, and was never seen 

 breeding there. In the Pyrenees the same observer noticed the Swallow at St. Jean-de- 

 Luz on the 23rd of March ; Colonel Irby found it very abundant at Santander ; and 

 Mr. Eagle Clarke, in his notes on the birds of tlie Eastern Pyrenees, states that it was 

 abundant about Tarascon, Aix, and in the upper valley of the Ariege to above Hospitalet, 

 at an elevation of 5000 feet ; it was also common at Perpignan. 



With regard to its occurrence in Soutliern Spain, Mr. Howard Saunders writes : — 

 " I was informed tliat the usual date of the appearance of the Swallow at Malaga 

 was the 25th of January ; but I did not actually observe it till 4th Eebruary, 1868 (an 

 exceptionally cold year). I found many broods hatched by April 16th in the herdsmen's 

 huts south of Seville. Amongst the tens of thousands of Swallows that have crossed 

 my eye in Andalucia, where they swarm to a degree unknown in England, I never 

 observed one with the faintest approach to that rufous or huffy tinge on the abdomen so 

 noticeable amongst our new arrivals here, a tint which is lost as the season advances, 

 as I have remarked in a pair which bred in my porch at Eeigate year after year." 



Colonel Irby observes : — " About Gibraltar the Swallow generally arrives about the 

 13th of Eebruary, although I have occasionally seen a straggler in December and 

 January. I have seen them crossing the Straits in considerable numbers up to tlie lotli 

 of April ; the latest I noticed were passing on the 21th of that month. I have observed 

 the nest finished on the 23rd of Eebruary, and young birds able to fly on the 21th of 

 May." 



In Portugal, according to Mr. Tait, it " usually arrives at Oporto between the 8th 

 and 15th of March, but sometimes a stray individual or two may be seen at tlic end of 

 February, and I once saw some as early as the 13th of January, 1878. In tlie soutli of 

 Portugal they arrive in February. The departure southwards from the uci-lilxuirliood 

 of Oporto generally takes place from the middle of September to the iniiKlli- of ( )t'i(il)ci-. 

 l)ut some remain for a few days, or even weeks, longer. I saw oik^ as late as N()\ cnilicr 

 20th; in fact, December is the only month in which I have not sei-n llicm in lliis 

 country. In the province of tlie Douro this Swallow nests in the suhtiTi-aiican galleries 

 which are cut into the hill-side to obtain water — a rather iiuexpeeled situation for 

 Swallows to choose. Dr. Carvalho has furnished me with a table of observations 



