1847.] Notes on the Ornithology of Candahar. 781 



56. Lanius excubitor, Lin. Is very common around Candahar. 

 This, and not L. lahtora, is the bird I formerly mentioned as seizing 

 the Mustela sarmatica by the nose (vide XIV, 348, on Afghan mam- 

 malia). It is chiefly seen in winter. 



57. Lanius erythronotus [affinis]. Is also common at Candahar. 

 [Two specimens forwarded by Capt. Hutton resemble L. erythronotus, 

 Vigors, in size, but L. canieeps, nobis (XV, 302), in colouring.*] 



58. Hirundo rustica, Lin. Chimney-Swallow. Was first seen on the 

 wing at Candahar on the 8th February, 1840, and 5th February, 1841. 

 —They are abundant throughout the summer months, and build in the 

 open rooms, in temples, &e. They retire in October. The advent and 

 departure both depend upon the mildness of the seasons, so that they are 

 sometimes later, sometimes earlier, than above stated. It is identical with 

 the English Swallow. I have seen them on the wing when the thermo- 

 meter stood no higher than 36°. — On the 8th February, 1840, when I 

 saw the first Swallow of that year, there had been hard frost and ice 

 during the night , but the morning was fine and sunshiny. On the 

 16th of that month, the thermometer stood at 38°, and on the 17th 

 again at 36° ; yet Swallows were twittering and on the wing, coursing 

 after insects, which are abundant at that season. This fact however 

 would seem to argue that migration does not take place with these 

 birds so much from a dread of encountering cold, as because their 

 natural food begins to fail them in the autumnal season. But where 

 do they migrate to, for we have them at Candahar precisely at the same 

 seasons as in England ? Do they travel to the Eastern Isles, or to the 

 regions of Southern Africa, or where ?f I have seen another species at 

 Mussoorie also on the wing on the 20th February, 1842, when frost and 

 ice were on the ground, though the morning was fine and sunshiny. 



59. H. riparia, (?) Lin. A small grey Swallow was seen near 

 Quetta in March ; I observed several on the wing, near the western 

 entrance of the Bolan Pass, — greyish-brown above, white beneath ; tail 

 squared. Apparently less than H. urbica. [Specimens of H. riparia 

 (vera) are sent by Captain Hutton from the banks of the Sntlej.] 



* L. caniceps occurs abundantly in the same localities as L. nigriceps, Franklin, and 

 without intermingling, so-far as I have seen, and the latter occurs together with L. ery- 

 thronotus in the sub- Himalayan region ; but Lord A. Hay procured a specimen at 

 Benares (XV, 303), which is just intermediate to L. erythronotus and L. nigriceps.— E.B. 



t I have never seen H. rustica (vera) from the Oriental Archipelago.— E. B. 



5 i 5 



