498 
4 
with the exception of a single bird shot in Wady Feiran, he did not observe it elsewhere. It is 
found in North-east Africa, and is said by Von Heuglin to winter in the Nile country. Captain 
Shelley writes (B. of Egypt, p. 125) that it is “ occasionally met with both in Egypt and Nubia, 
but does not appear to make its home in those countries; for on each occasion when I observed 
it, during the months of April and May, it seemed to have no fixed abode, but to be on its way 
northward. This may possibly be accounted for by the general absence of large houses, against: 
which we know this bird usually likes to place its nest.” According to Von Heuglin it is a 
migrant in North-east Africa and Arabia, passing in February and March and from August to 
the early part of October, partly in companies and partly together with other allied species. 
Mr. Blanford obtained a single example at Koomayli, in Abyssinia, in February, which was 
hunting over jungle in company with H. rustica and H. melanocrissa. 
In North-western Africa it both winters and breeds, being less common in the winter than 
in the summer. Loche says that it breeds numerously in Algeria, and that only a few remain 
throughout the winter; and Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., writes (Ibis, 1871, p. 74) that he first saw 
it flying over the barracks at Blida on the 17th February, and on the 18th they were repairing 
their old nests at Miliana. It occurs on the Canaries, though not recorded by Berthelot. 
Dr. Carl Bolle states (J. f. O. 1854, p. 460) that he saw large flocks on the 2nd April at Oliva, 
in Fuerteventura, which disappeared as quickly as they came. Mr. Godman also says (Ibis, 
1872, p. 171) that he saw a pair which had a nest at St. Anna, in Madeira, but thinks that it 
may only be of accidental occurrence there. It has been obtained, though only on one occasion, 
in Prince’s Island, on the west coast of Africa, by Mr. J. G. Keulemans, who shot one in 
January at a plantation about 1500 feet above the sea-level. He says that the natives had 
never seen this species before on the island, and he never met with it on any other occasion 
during his travels in Western Africa. 
It is rather difficult to define the eastern limits of the range of the present species; for in 
Asia it is, to a large extent, replaced by several closely allied, though fairly distinct, species. 
Mr. Blanford says that it is not rare in Persia, though scarcely so common as it is in many parts 
of Europe; and Dr. Jerdon writes (B. of I. i. p. 167) that he “only found it in small numbers 
in one locality on the Neilgherries, about 5000 feet high, on a cultivated ridge of the hills, in the 
month of March.” 
The allied Asiatic species are as follows :— 
Chelidon cashmiriensis, Gould (P. Z. S. 1858, p. 856), which inhabits North-west India and Cashmere. I 
am indebted to Mr. Gould for the loan of his type of this species from Cashmere and of two examples 
from N.W. India, which, I find, differ from our European Martin in being smaller and having the 
under surface of the wings and axillaries brown, the tail being shorter and less forked. 
Chelidon whitelyi, Swinhoe (P. Z. S. 1862, p. 820; Ibis, 1874, pl. vii. fig. 2), which resembles C. cashmiriensis, 
but differs from it and all other Martins in having all the upper tail-coverts white. Only one specimen 
(from Pekin), the type, is known to exist in any collection here in England. I think it very probable 
that the present species is identical with Chelidon lagopoda (Pall.) from Dauria; but not having had an 
opportunity of examining a specimen from the latter locality, I cannot speak with certainty. 
Chelidon dasypus, Bp. (C. blakistoni, Swinh. Ibis, 1874, p. 151, pl. vu. fig. 1), which is found in Japan during 
the summer, and migrates down to Borneo. In size it resembles our bird, but has the under wing- 
