178 HUFOUS SWALLOW. 



whence came our Domestic Swallows? It is now 

 known they pass the winter in Africa; but this question 

 may be still asked with good reason as to H. rufula. 

 From whence does it depart, and what is its true 

 country? No ornithologist has yet (1855) been able 

 to answer this question. We only know the bird 

 from its accidental appearance on the shores of the 

 Mediterranean. Those who took it for H. Daurica, 

 {H. alpestris, Pall.,) thought it came from Siberia, and 

 this presumption might be justified by the simultaneous 

 appearance in the same parts of the Mediterranean of 

 many Siberian birds, such as Emberiza rustica, E. 

 aureola, E. pityornus, E. pusilla, Accentor Calliope, 

 etc.; but if Rufula is very nearly allied to Daurica, 

 there is still a difference between them; nor has it 

 yet been found in Russia, or upon the coasts of the 

 Black Sea, Prince Bonaparte seemed to have settled 

 the question, by claiming its identity with EC. melano- 

 crissa of Abyssinia, but unfortunately we have seen 

 that they are distinct." 



"H. rufula being as we may say intermediate between 

 H. Daurica and H. melanocrissa, I am led to believe, 

 in the absence of further proof, that its home must be 

 one of the mountainous countries situated between 

 Egypt and India, probably the mountains in the south 

 of Armenia or Persia. I exclude for the present the 

 hypothesis of Barbary, as it has not yet been met with 

 in Algeria or Spain." 



"As far as we know of H. rufula, and until we can 

 in a more positive manner determine the differences 

 which age may introduce between this species and its 

 congeners, it is distinguished from EL. Daurica by the 

 exceedingly fine brown streaks on the inferior parts 

 of the body, by the larger russet collar, and by the 



