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iumerous wherever found.” He further states (Ibis, 1859, p. 27) that “it is not unfrequent in 
the barren gorges of the Kedron, near the Dead Sea, where I found it breeding at the end of 
March, and obtained specimens. I have observed, both in the Atlas range and in Palestine, that 
it is by no means gregarious, each pair keeping a range of territory to themselves, though the 
bird occurs from one end of the pass to the other.” The records of its occurrence in North-east 
Africa are somewhat conflicting. Captain Shelley says that he never saw an Egyptian specimen, 
and is very sceptical as to its ever having been found in that country. Von Heuglin includes it 
on the authority of Brehm, who (J. f. O. 1853, p. 452) speaks of it as very rare in Egypt. All 
the Egyptian Crag-Martins I have seen were Cotyle obsoleta, Cab., which species is, I should say, 
alone found in that country; but there is no doubt that Cotyle rupestris occurs in the Abyssinian 
highlands. Mr. Blanford (Geol. & Zool. of Abyss. p. 350) speaks of it as being “a very common 
bird in the mountain-passes, and found almost from the sea-level to 8000 feet. A specimen 
from Senafé differs in no respect from others brought from Southern Europe. Singularly enough 
a single specimen obtained by Mr. Jesse appears to belong to a small variety of the southern . 
form, C. fuligula, Licht. I probably saw both. Heuglin only gives Cotyle obsoleta, Cab., a paler 
form, as common in Abyssinia. If I obtained either of the other species I have overlooked 
them.” There can be no doubt that Mr. Blanford’s specimen belongs really to the present 
species, as I have carefully compared it with European examples and can detect no difference 
either in size or coloration. The Crag-Martin is resident in North-western Africa; Major Loche 
says that it breeds in the gorges of Chiffa; and Malherbe records it as abundant at Bona, but 
otherwise not common in Algeria. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., who also obtained specimens near 
the ravine of Chiffa, remarks that he noticed a considerable difference in size. Mr. Tacza- 
nowski (J. f. O. 1870, p. 39) says that it is the only species of Swallow found during the 
winter in the mountains near the desert. They were often seen at Elkantara and El Outaja, 
flying about in the fields, and also in the oases of Biskra, Seriana, and Sidi-Okba, but they 
did not remain there for long. Mr. T. H. Chambers-Hodgetts also met with it in Tripoli at 
Turhona. 
To the eastward it has been met with as far as Northern China. De Filippi observed it at 
Demavend and at Bender Abbas. Ménétries (Cat. Rais. p. 45) records it from the mountains of 
Talyche, near Zouvant, in the Caucasus, where it breeds; and Mr. Blanford informs me that he 
“‘met with it in several places on the Persian highlands during the summer: it kept about the 
crags at a considerable elevation.” JI found it, he says, “breeding on June 29th in a ruined 
carayansarai at Dehgirdu, 8000 feet above the sea, on the road between Shiraz and Isfahan. It 
was common in the Elburz mountains, in Northern Persia. In Baluchistan I only found 
C. obsoleta. Severtzoff says that it occurs throughout Turkestan, except in the north-eastern 
portion, and he found it breeding near Chu, Tallas, Susamir, on the lower Narin, Caratan, in the 
western part of the Thian-shan mountains, and along the course of the Syr-Darja, at an altitude 
of from 5400 to 10,500 feet, though at the latter altitude it is rare. In localities at an altitude 
of about 3000 feet it occurs only during migration. Ido not find it recorded by any of the 
Siberian travellers; but Dr. Henderson, who obtained it on the Yarkand expedition, says (Lahore 
to Yarkand, p. 177) that ‘it was often seen; it was not uncommon near Sanju, was met with 
