4 THE BEE-EATER. 



one of the best observers of bird-life of the 

 present century, but it is, to my mind, certain 

 that in this instance he made a mistake, and the 

 Swallow to which his notes refer, was, in all 

 probability, the Cape Chimney- Swallow (Hirundo 

 albigularis). This surmise is the more likely to 

 be correct, from the fact that our Chimney- 

 Swallow leaves Europe in the same plumage 

 with which it visited us in the spring in its full 

 beauty. Most of our migratory birds, both old 

 and young, moult before they quit th# shores of 

 Great Britain ; but the S\^allows are an exception 

 to the rule, and fly away in the same clothing 

 that has borne "the battle and the breeze" of 

 their sojourn and nesting in England. In their 

 winter quarters in Africa they go through their 

 moult, and it is against all reason that they 

 should wish to encounter once more the toil 

 of rearing a brood, while their energies are en- 

 feebled by the exhausting process of a renewal 

 of their feathers. 



In the case of the Bee-eater, however, the 

 evidence is stronger, for the well known pioneer 

 in our knowledge of South African ornithology, 

 Mr. Edgar L. Layard, distinctly states that he 



