HIRUNDINID&. 163 
THE SWALLOW. 
Hirunpo rtstica, Linneus. 
This well-known visitor has been known to arrive in the southern 
portions of our islands in some numbers by March arst, while 
from April roth forward it is generally distributed, although some- 
what scarce and local in the extreme north, and decreasing in the 
north-west. It visits the Outer Hebrides, and will probably be 
found to breed there exceptionally, as is the case in the Orkneys 
and Shetlands. Emigration usually begins early in September, and 
most birds have left us by the middle of October, but there are 
many records up to the end of December, and a few in January 
and February; while one out of two laggard Swallows survived the 
exceptionally mild winter of 1895-1896, at Masham, Yorkshire. 
The Swallow occurs in the Feroes in May, and has been known to 
stray to Iceland, South Greenland, Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya. 
It nests in Scandinavia up to 70° N. lat., but not quite as far as the 
Arctic circle in Russia ; eastward and southward, its breeding-range 
extends over Europe, Asia (north, as a rule, of the great mountain 
ranges), and Northern Africa ; while during winter it is found through: 
out the Indian region as far east as Burma and the Malay peninsula, 
and all over Africa. My space will not permit a discussion of its con! 
geners, and I must refer my readers to Dr. R. B. Sharpe’s excellent 
remarks (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. vol. x., especially pp. 126-127) ; 
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