590 HIRUNDO RUSTICA. 



in May and June. Thence northward it is found throughout the vast extent of Central Asia and Siberia from 

 west to east (except perhaps in the north-east of Siberia and Kamtchatka) , and ranges above the 60th 

 parallel of latitude. It inhabits all China and Formosa in summer ; and Mr. Dresser says that there is a 

 specimen in the Cambridge Museum from the Philippines, thus extending its range very far to the eastward. 

 Dr. Meyer, in his " Field-notes from Celebes," records it from Menado, Tello (South Celebes), and likewise 

 from the Togian Islands. It also visits Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Batchian, and Morty Island. 



Migrating to the north from Africa it spreads in the spring through the whole of Europe, passing through 

 Egypt, according to Captain Shelley, from the south in April. Further west, however, its advent in Europe 

 is much earlier ; for we find Col. Irby recording it as passing over from Tangier, where some remain to breed, 

 in January and February ; and Mr. Howard Saunders was informed that it usually arrived at Malaga on the 

 25th of the former month. It must remain, however, in Spain for some time before venturing into more 

 northerly climes, as we seldom see it in England before the middle of April. The migratory stream from the 

 south of Africa, where the Swallow winters in great numbers, continues to flow for some months after these 

 Tangier birds commence to move. I saw it in considerable force at St. Vincent on the 15th of April, 1877 ; 

 and Governor Ussher ('Ibis/ 187-4, p. 62) obtained specimens in complete plumage in February and March 

 at Cape Coast, Western Africa, and noticed that it left the Gold Coast before the 1st of May. Mr. Godman 

 found it breeding abundantly in Madeira and the Canaries, but is unable to say whether it is stationary there; 

 other observers remark that it only occurs on passage in the Canaries. In Teneriffe it arrives after the Swift. 

 In Sardinia, according to Mr. A. B. Brooke, "it arrives in small numbers about the end of February or 

 early in March, from which time they keep gradually increasing in numbers. Young birds were hatched 

 about the 29th of May." Not content with overspreading the temperate parts of Europe, it perseveres in its 

 onward journey to the very northern coasts, and thence further even to the shores of Nova Zembla, and even 

 to Spitzbergcn, it having been seen there by Mr. Arthur Campbell's exploring party in 1874. It is a rare 

 t raggler to Iceland, and has never yet been known to occur in Greenland. 



Concerning its return to winter quarters in Africa, we find that some remain throughout the season in the 

 northern part. Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake says that it is seen all the year round in Tangier and Eastern Morocco, 

 so that it both breeds and winters there. Captain Shelley likewise considers that it may be resident in Egypt 

 to a small extent, as he obtained an immature specimen on the 28th February ; but the fact that it was 

 abundant in Nubia in May is, I think, still more conclusive that it breeds in North-eastern Africa and 

 doubtless remains throughout the year. Some examples would appear to remain in South Africa during the 

 winter, or to return very early from breeding-grounds in the north of the continent; for Layard saw one on 

 the 27th of July at Cape Town, and again another on the 30th August; this latter, he remarks, was 

 probably a new arrival from the north. 



Habits. — Much might be written concerning the habits of the favourite harbinger of our English spring ; 

 but they arc well known to the most casual observer, and my space will not permit of any lengthened disser- 

 tation on the economy of this interesting bird. Of late years, since the climate of old England has under- 

 gone such changes, the saying that "one Swallow docs not make a summer " is disagreeably true; but, 

 nevertheless, the first welcome sight of the sweet bird, its shining plumage illumined by the fitful sunbeams 

 of a chilly April day, conduces to the hope that soon the bitter east wind will have blown itself out, and that 

 Nature must speedily array herself in that joyous verdant attire which makes the warm English May-day so 

 inexpressibly lovely. To the resident in Ceylon the Swallow brings no such pleasant prospect ; it arrives in 

 t he midst of the wind and rain with which the south-west monsoon dies out, and foretells nothing but the usual 

 dry Christmas weather of this part of the tropics. Yet its presence on the Galle Face at Colombo, as it skims 

 along just above the turf on a bright though windy morning, or sits in rows of a dozen or more twittering- 

 its winter notes on the telegraph-wires at noon, is not without a charm, and reminds one of the home that 

 has been left behind far beyond the western horizon. The time and place, however, in which to sec the Swallow 

 to perfection is when it is careering over a beautiful English lawn on a bright June morning, sweeping round 

 the handsome conifers and beneath the spreading oaks ; or when, glancing out of some rustic barn, it darts like a 

 polished arrow down the tiny brook or round the village green in search of a mouthful for the little brood so 

 augly housed against yonder beam. In Ceylon we miss the pretty little chattering song of the male in the 



