5) 
out the country, and is found as far north as Alten in 70° N. lat., and at Vardé in 702° N. lat., 
but does not breed there. It is also said to have been seen at Hammerfest. South of these 
places, Professor Sundevall says, it is not found in Lapland until. in about 682° N. lat., at 
Enontekis, Karesuando, and Ivalajoki, below which it is extremely common. 
In Finland I found it numerous throughout the country; in Russia it is common and 
generally distributed as far north at least as Archangel; and Sabanieff informs me that it is 
found throughout the Ural. In Poland, the Baltic Provinces, and North Germany, as well as in 
Denmark, it is a common summer visitant ; and I am indebted to Mr. A. Benzon, of Copenhagen, 
for the following notes respecting its occurrence in this last-named country :—“The common 
Danish names for the Swallow are ‘ Forstusvale’ and ‘ Hus-svale.’ The name ‘Sortbag’ (black- 
back) in contradistinction to ‘ Hvidbag’ (whiteback) as the name of the Martin, is seldom used, 
as are also the various names derived from the places where it builds its nest, such as ‘Ladesvale,’ 
‘Staldsvale ;’ and the name ‘Skorstenssvale’ used by some authors, Kjerbolling amongst them, 
I consider to arise from a confusion with the House-Martin. Here in Denmark we look on the 
Swallow as the harbinger of spring; for it is the first of this group to arrive, probably because it 
is molested by no one, not even by the lower classes. It usually arrives late in April, and leaves 
again about the end of September ; but the times both of its arrival and departure vary according 
to the season. I have never known them to arrive here in flocks, but they drop in by twos and 
threes, whereas in the autumn they collect in flocks before their departure. I have never 
observed them roost on telegraph-wires or trees, whereas during the daytime they often collect 
in large flocks on the former. I expect that those which have bred in the neighbourhood collect 
together on the telegraph-wires, &c., whereas those which merely pass through and remain to roost 
pass the night amongst the reeds in vast numbers. We have carefully collected data respecting 
the arrival of the Swallow in Denmark from 1779 to 1788 inclusive, and again from 1797 to 
1840 inclusive, and from the latter date to the present (c.f. Vidensk. Midd. fra Naturh. Foren. 
Kjobenh. 1854, p. 1, ‘Vaarens Komme,’ by P. Pedersen). From this it appears that it requires 
about seventeen years’ observation to arrive at the true average date of its arrival, and the date of 
arrival at one and the same place varies as much as twenty-three days. Take, for instance, Boserup, 
about twenty English miles distant from Copenhagen; we find the earliest date of arrival the 13th 
April, and the latest about the 6th May, the average date being the 25th April. At Pind Molle, 
near Syendberg, in Fyen, the first date of arrival was the 16th April, and the latest the 9th of 
May, the average being the 27th April, this being the result of thirty-three years’ observation. 
At Veders6, near Ringkjobing, on the west coast of Jutland, the earliest date of arrival was the 
26th April, and the latest the 19th May, the average date being the 8th May. In these three 
instances the variation is as much as twenty-three days; but in some localities it is less, even as 
little as nine days, whereas again in others it is twenty days. The variation in the date of 
arrival at various parts of Denmark in the same season is as much as fourteen days. The House- 
Martin arrives in Belgium about twenty-one days earlier than in Denmark; and there is about 
the same difference in the date of the arrival of this species.” In France, Portugal, and Spain it 
is, as elsewhere, a common summer visitant, but is also stated to occur in the last-named country 
in January; and probably some stragglers may remain there over winter. Colonel Irby states 
that it usually arrives in Spain early in February, and leaves in November; and Mr. Howard 
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