THE NIGHTINGALE. 43 



Cape colony would indeed be flooded with 

 Hirundo rustica. Besides, these birds renew 

 their plumage (as the Cuckoo likewise does) 

 when in their winter quarters ; whereas the 

 Sand-martins {Cotyle), as I am all but sure from 

 recollection, resemble the great majority of our 

 summer migrants in moulting before they 

 take their departure equatorward. That our 

 British Sand-martin (C riparia) breeds in 

 Egypt during the winter months is noticed in 

 the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society' 

 for 1863 (p. 288), and that its ordinary repre- 

 sentative in India and the countries eastward 

 (C sinensis) does the same I can vouch from 

 personal observation, having myself taken both 

 eggs and young about the turn of the year from 

 their burrows in the banks of the Hugli ; while 

 Mr. Swinhoe noticed their breeding when in 

 their winter haunts, in the ' Ibis ' for 1863, 

 p. 257, and 1866, p. 134." 



