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remains throughout the whole year along the Red Sea and on the Somali coast. Dickinson 

 observed it near Chibisa, on the Zambesi. 



In North-west Africa it appears to be met with at all seasons of the year. Loche states 

 that though not numerous in Algeria a few pairs breed there, and he obtained its eggs ; and 

 Mr. Taczanowski saw a pair at Philippeville in April, which seemed to be preparing to breed there. 

 Mr. Stark informs me that it breeds commonly in the cliffs in Northern Morocco ; and M. Favier 

 writes {fide Irby, I. c.) that it is " not uncommon near Tangier, living among the rocks on the 

 coast, where they nest in March, laying two or three eggs; the young do not fly until July. The 

 migratory birds arrive in October and November, returning north in March." It has also been 

 met with in Senegal, on the Gold Coast, and on the Cape-Verde Islands. Mr. E. L. Layard says 

 (B. of S. Afr. p. 16) that Verreaux records it from South Africa; and Mr. Ayres found it at 

 Natal, where it frequents the saltwater lakes near the sea ; but he never saw it from the Cape 

 colony. 



In Asia it is very generally distributed. Mr. Blanford informs me that it is rarely seen 

 in the interior of Persia; but he observed it in the Elburz Mountains, and it is common 

 about the Caspian and on the Baluchistan coast. Mr. Hume writes (Rough Notes, p. 236), 

 " Found throughout the lower ranges of the Himalayas, in the rocky gorges, and all the larger 

 streams, and along the course of the Ganges and the Jumna from their mouths almost to their 

 sources. I have from time to time observed it in the Cawnpoor, Etawah, Agra, and Allyghur 

 districts. I met with it also on the Sutledge, at the Sambhur lake, and the Nujjufgurh jheel; 

 and I recently shot a very fine one close to the Saharunpoor, on the Western-Jumna Canal. 

 Mr. Brooks says that this species is ' common on the river Tonse, also inland in the Mirzapoor 

 district where there are jheels and tanks. I shot one at night off a post in the middle of a tank. 

 Though thus widely distributed, this species is nowhere, I believe, in India numerically abun- 

 dant.' " Mr. Holdsworth says that it is rare in Ceylon, and he only once observed it, perched on 

 a buoy in Galle harbour. Lord Walden has two specimens from Ceylon. Dr. Severtzoff writes 

 to me that he met with it on almost all the large rivers of Turkestan, on the Oxus, the Jaxartes, 

 the Yli, the Chirckik (which flows into the laxartes), the Koksu (flowing into the Balkhash lake), 

 always in the summer season ; but he never found its nest. It is, however, numerically scarce, 

 and during the space of many years he collected there he only obtained three specimens. It is 

 recorded from Siberia by Schrenck and Badde, but not by Von Middendorff. The former states 

 that it is not uncommon on the Amoor river ; and Dr. Badde met with it throughout the country 

 he explored, except on the Mongolian steppes. It was less common oh Lake Baikal than on the 

 rivers flowing into it. It is a migrant, arriving in the Bureja Mountains about the middle of 

 April. Dr. Dybowski records it as common in the Darasun district (in Dauria), especially near 

 the Onon river. Pere David states that he saw two individuals in Mongolia on passage in spring. 

 Mr. Swinhoe met with it throughout China, Formosa, and Hainan ; and Temminck and Schlegel 

 record it from Japan. It occurs on nearly all the islands in the Malay and Indian archipelagos, 

 Ceram, Celebes, Borneo, and Java ; and Mr. Wallace obtained it in New Guinea. It is not 

 recorded from New Zealand ; but Mr. Gould writes (Handb. B. of Austr. i. p. 22) : — " Though not 

 an abundant species, it is generally diffused over every portion of Australia suited to its habits. 

 I myself shot it in Recherche Bay, at the extreme south of Tasmania; and Gilbert found it 



