Mr. AV. H. Hudlcston, in his interesting account of an expedition to Mesolonglii 

 and Southern ^Etolia, writes : — " But the greatest curiosity of all was to be seen under a 

 large flat slab which projected enough to afford convenient shelter during a shower of 

 rain. This was a nest of H. rufula, which had been broken at one end, and consequcitly 

 abandoned by the bird. Meanwhile a Nuthatch had come and repaired the dainaire, 

 possibly with the idea of appropriating the nest. The difference of the workn-.ansliip. 

 and to a certain extent in the materials, was very apparent when tlie two were in juxta- 

 position. In shape the nest of S. rufida is so different from that of any other Eurojjcau 

 bird, that this proceeding on the part of the Nuthatch was still more extraordinary." 



Numerous specimens collected by Dr. Kriiper near Smyrna are in the British 

 Museum, and Lord Lilford has recently presented to the same institution three specimens 

 obtained by Dr. Guillemard in Cyprus. In Palestine, writes Canon Tristram, " thi> 

 handsome Swallow returns at the end of March ; plentiful everywhere, but most 

 numerous in the lower and warmer parts of the country. Though feeding in flocks, I 

 never knew this bird to breed in company ; and very rarely were two nests to be found 

 in one cave. The nest is a beautiful structure, composed of the same materials as that 

 of the House-Martin, but is invariablv attached to the flat surface of the underside of 



the roof of a cave or vault A favourite breeding-place of JI. riifida is under tlif 



arches of the Monastery on Mount Carmel. The eggs are four in number, pure wliite, 

 considerably larger than those of the House-Martin, and flatter at the small end." 



Capt. Shelley found the species throughout Egypt and Nubia, but it is of ran- 

 occurrence. "Towards the end of March I constantly saw a pair flying ovrr a marsh 

 near Damietta, and on the 30th of that month obtained one of them." Dr. A. r.relnn 

 states that he saw one only in Nubia, near Ibrim, on the 3rd of April, aiul nn't \\\\\\ it 

 on another occasion, in company with our Chimney-Swallow, in Egypt. The late Baron 

 von Heuglin says that he saw the species in the same localities, near Der, and on the flth 

 of April near Anaho, on the western slopes of the Abyssinian Highlands. ^Mr. A\ . T. 

 Blanford obtained two specimens at Koomayli in Pebruary. 



We have received a pair of specimens from Mr. A. J. A'. Palmer, collected at Hu-huv. 

 where he also found the e2:2:s. Mr. Blanford writes:—" 1 only nu-t witli this Swallow 



CO ■ 



in Southern Persia and part of Beluchistan. It was more coniinon near Shira/. tlian 

 elsewhere, and I never met Avith it farther to the north." 



According to Dr. Severtzoff it breeds throughout Turkestan, at an altitude of from 

 4000 to GOOO feet, and it also occurs in Afghanistan, where tlielate Dr. Crillith pr..cun-(l 

 two sj)ecimens near Pushut, and Capt. AVardlaw-llamsay also nu'l wiili tin' species at 

 Byan Kheyl. These all belong to the smaller eastern race ( llirnn<l(> sciillii of Seeholim) 

 of wdiich Colonel Biddulph shot two speeinicns at ( ;il-il on ilie ICthnf May. .•mmng :. 

 large number of Chelidon ra.s/mnrlrtKsis. Dr. Scully savs that -it is ;i snnimcr visitor 

 to Gilgit, hut never appears to be coninu)ii." '1 he s.nue -eullcman lias also procured the 

 species in Nepal, whence came ]\Ir. Seebolnn's types of //. sruHn. 



In 1870 we were responsible for the statenunl that //. rvj'ulu u.i.t to I'auuna. 



