BRITISH BIRDS. 97 



Legends ' (dating at least two thousand years before the Christian era), 

 " I sent forth a Swallow and it left. The Swallow went and turned, and a 

 resting-place it did not find, and it returned." "This was from the ark, and 

 / refers to Hasisadra, the Noah of this terra-cotta tablet." — Nature, April 8, 

 1875, p. 441. Again, in Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures,' we find, " The 

 Swallow is looked upon with a sort of love and reverence, and it is considered 

 sinful to destroy the bird or its nest. This feeling thus originated : — When our 

 Saviour was crucified a little bird came and perched upon the cross, peered 

 sorrowfully down upon the suff^erer and twitted, ' Hugsvala, svala, svala 

 Honom '—that is, Console, console, console Him. Hence it obtained its name 

 Svala. In consequence, Heaven ordained that blessings and prosperity should 

 ever afterwards attend those who protected it and its nest. For a long time 

 after, it would sit upon the cross ; but when this was taken down by the 

 enemies of Christendom and buried in the earth, it flew sorrowing from the 

 spot." 



A doubt has been entertained about the specific difference, if any, 

 between H. rustica and H. cahirica. Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Dresser have an 

 article on Hirundo rustica (P. Z. S. 1870, p. 244) ; and at p. 305 the former 

 gentleman says : — " There cannot be the slightest doubt that the bird sup- 

 posed to be Hirundo cahirica by ornithologists, from Western Africa, is only 

 H. rustica shot in full spring plumage on its way northwards." Mr. 

 Dresser, in his ' Birds of Europe,' part xxxvii., figures H. rustica and 

 H. Savignii=H. cahirica, Licht., side by side ; and I cannot do better than 

 refer my readers to that work, one of our standard repertories of ornithology 

 and indispensable to all ornithologists. Mr. Dresser gives us the benefit of 

 his opinion thus : — " I can only trace the occurrence of the present species " 

 (//. Savignii^ " in Palestine and North-east Africa. Messrs. Finsch and 

 Hartlaub go so far even as to unite this species with Hirundo rustica — a view 

 which I cannot for a moment indorse ; but I think it more than probable that 

 examples of the common Swallow in full spring plumage, having the under- 

 parts tinged with rufous, have been mistaken for the present species ; and 



