4 



Noveraber ; one found hy Butler was on a cliff about one laundred yards from the water, 

 on a sloping hill-side. AVlien the nest is destroyed by accident or removed, the birds 

 usually commence a fresh one on the same foundation within a few days. Reid took 

 one on tlie 15th October, and on the 21st found a new nest ready for eggs in the same 



place." 



In the Transvaal Mr. Ayres states that it breeds sparsely. It is the first of the 

 migratory Swallows to appear at Potchefstroom. "Two specimens of this species were 

 shot on the 19th of August. By the 4th of September the SwalloAvs were plentiful along 

 the river, and by 18th of September they were pairing; a month. later they were more 

 dispersed and not seen so plentiful. They feed principally over the marshes, but often 

 rest upon the ant-heaps in the open country." The same gentleman found them fairly 

 plentiful on his visit to the Lydenburg district. 



Tlie late Mr. Andersson has the following note on Hirundo rustica : — " This well- 

 known species is pretty common in Damara Land and Great Namaqua Land during the 

 rainy season, and I have found it very numerous at Walvisch Bay and in other localities 

 near the coast. In uncivilized parts of Africa these Swallows afiB.x their nests to some 

 projection of a rock or trunk of a tree, or occupy cavities in rocks or banks." On this 

 point Mr. Seebohm observes : — 



" Andersson, in his ' Birds of Damara Land,' remarks of S. rustica that it breeds in 

 that country ; but there can be little doubt that the Swallow which he supposed to be 

 our species was the White-throated Swallow ( JT. albigularis), which he does not mention, 

 and which he probably mistook for the female of our bird. His farther remark that 

 in consequence of the scarcity of houses it breeds in rocks and trees, adds still more 

 doubt to the accuracy of his observations. I have seen the Common Swallow breeding 

 under overhanging cliffs in the Dobrudscha, but I never heard of its having been found 

 nesting in a tree." 



In favour of Mr. Seebohm's theory we may mention that the Knysna specimens in 

 the British Museum were originally labelled by Mr. Andersson " //. rustica; " but it is 

 evident that he found out his mistake, for in his own handwriting the name " //. rtifi- 

 frons" has been substituted. At the time of his writing the book on the Birds of 

 Damara Land he must have been perfectly aware of the differences between these two 

 Swallows, and we have never seen a specimen of //. albigularis from Damara Land. At 

 present, therefore, we are not inclined to accept Mr. Seebohm's correction of Mr. 

 Andersson's supposed mistake, though we admit that his account of the nesting of 

 //. rustica in Damara Land is very similar to that of //. albigularis in Natal, as recorded 

 liy Colonel Butler. 



In the Lisbon Museum is a single specimen of this species, from Angola, procured 

 by Mr. Purtado d'Antas. AVc have already alluded to its occurrence at Malindi, in East 

 Africa. 



Our descriptions are taken from the series in the British Museum, and the figure 

 in the Plate from a bird in Captain Shelley's collection. 



