6 



This we made on the faith of a specimen purchased from the Maison Verreaux. For- 

 tunately tlie specimen passed into the collection of Mr. H. E. Dresser, who found from 

 the original Russian label still on the specimen that it had been shot near Karatau in 

 Turkestan, which is probably its furthest eastern limit in Central Asia. 



Mr. Seebohm contributed the following note to Mr. Dresser's ' Birds of Europe ' : — 

 " I found Hirundo rnfula breeding both at Nymphion, east of Smyrna, and in the 

 Parnassus. Both in Asia Minor and in Greece it is a summer visitor only, arriving 

 early in April, at least a month later than its congeners Siriindo rusUca and H. ttrbica. 

 Fresh-laid eggs may be obtained from the middle of May to tlie middle of June. I did 

 not meet with any evidence of its l)reeding a second time, except when the first nest had 

 been destroyed or disturbed before the eggs were hatched. I have a young bird in full 

 plumage of the first year, shot on the 30th of July. During the breeding-season it 

 frequents the warm sheltered valleys in the highest parts of the vine-regions. We never 

 met with it so high up as the pine-regions. On the wing Ilirundo rufula is quite as 

 much at home as //. rustlca or II. urhica, and may not unfrequently be seen hawking for 

 flies in company with both these species. It may, however, be easily distinguished from 

 those birds at some distance, as it possesses the long forked tail of the one in addition 

 to the white rump of the other. It may also be distinguished by its note, which 

 resembles that of //. rustlca, but may be described as a low whit compared with the loud 

 iViliet of that bird. The limestone crags of the Parnassus and of Asia Minor east of 

 Smyrna abound in caves, on the roofs of which this bird builds it curious nest ; but so 

 far as my observation goes it never breeds in colonies. The nest is built of mud, and is 

 very similar to that of ILlrundo urhica, with the addition of a funnel at the top made of 

 the same material, the entrance to which is slightly bent downward, so that the whole 

 structure reminds one of a chemist's retort. It is lined with dry grass and feathers. 

 The eggs, from four to five in number, are pure white, a size smaller than those of 

 Hirundo urhica, and less pointed at the smaller end than the eggs of that species usually 

 are, measuring from \% by ff to f^ by |§ inch. From the similarity of this bird to 

 H. 7'ustica one might have expected the e^^ to be spotted ; but whereas the eggs of 

 E. rustlca and Cotyle rupestris may always be seen in the nest, those of H. rufula, 

 H. urhica, and C. riparla never can be. In this family the colouring of the gss, seems 

 to bear no relation to generic distinction as it does amongst the Warblers, but would seem 

 to be entirely dependent on the greater or less concealment afforded by the construction 

 and position of the nest. Both in the neighbourhood of Smyrna and in the Parnassus 

 the bird is comparatively local and rare, but is much more abundant in Acarnania.'' 



The figure in the Plate and the descriptions of this species have been taken from 

 specimens in the British Museum, 



