The p resen t species is common in several o t the Swiss volleys. Tlius Mr. Scott-
W ilsou w r ite s:—
T Cra"-Swalloiv flying ab o u t the periremlicular crags of tho Gommi in
J u n e I 8 8 0 ; b u t observed it more p articularly, and found it breeding, on th e 1st o f .Tune,
, neai Meiringen. I h e two nests I saw were placed ag ain st th e face of an almost
perpendicula r crag, ab o u t th ir ty yards from the ground, and^I could see th e l.ead of the
O ld bird projec ting as i t sat on th e n o s t; bu t, alas ! both ncsl.s were q uite inaccessible
Irom below or from above, as they were placed immediatelv beneath an o v erlian "in "
projection of rock, i r e watched th o birds nearly all d a y - b o t l i when high above with
slow u n d u la tin g flight ami when dashing past, oatcliiiig insects. According to o ur miide
th e Crag-Swallows pass th e win ter lierc in tlie Haslitl.a l, hiding in eaves and crevices in’
th e ro c k s ; and lie says h e has seen th em in win ter flying ab o u t the village of Meiriimen
M 0 also saw tlie bird about th e rocks of the Brttnig Pass.”
Ill th e A u strian Tyrol it has been found n esting 011 tlie Garcia Lake, n e a r th e town
of Rivn, hy \ o n Tseluisi zu Selimitlhoffon ; and Mr. Dresser summarizes th e notes from
th is neigliliourhood as f o l l o w s M r . A. Rindfleisch observed six o r eig h t a t tlie
‘ Engelswand,- between th e villages of Oetz and Urahauscn, in September 1853, and also
-saw It a t tbo Martinswand, n e a r In n sb ru ck . Mr. L u ig i Altliainmer, in his lis t of the
birds o f th e Tyrol, speaks of i t as a rriv in g la te r and leaving e arlier th a n I I . rustica,
breeding m th e most precipitous p la c e s ; and, according to B ru h in , i t breeds annually
in th e Vorarlberg, close to tho ‘ H än g en d e r Stein,' n e a r Bludenz,”
Many observers h ave noted the ocoiirrenoe of th e Crag-Swallow in th e Pyrenees ■
an d M. Olphe-Galliard gives th e following places in his work on th e birds of W e ste rn
Europe :-B a s s c s -Alpes [Ba illy ), Daupliiiié (Boxdeille), G a r d ; rocks which border tlie
Gai-don, and those of Yidourle n e a r St. Hippolyto [Crespón)-, Ando, a ll th o summer-
Ariege, May to September; Gers, only iu a u tum n ; H é ra u lt, Ap ril to Sep tem b e r; Tarn
in Pyrenees, ou passage, a few remaining for th e s um m e r ; Tarn-et-Gai-onuo, 011 plssao-e.
only in au tum n ; E a ste rn Pyrenees, from th e end of A p ril to th e end of Septenibor
Mr. Howard Saunders, writin g on th e birds of th e Pvrenecs, says th a t th e Cra»-
M a itm IS resident tliro u g b o u t the yea r from th e Pas de Roland, n e a r Cambo, to t h e
gorges o t tb e E a s te rn Pyrenees. Colonel Irb y found i t n estin g in num bers about the
Desfiladero, n e a r L a Harmida, iu tb e S an tan d er district. Mr. Eagle Clarke found tlie
b ird breeding 111 th e town of Audorra, and we append Iiis notes on th e occurrence:—
“ Perhaps the most in te re s tin g of oiu- observations related to tho breeding o f the
Crag-Mnrtiii (C. rupestris) u n d e r tho eaves of tho houses iu the c en tre of tlie tow ii of
-Vnilorra...................... Several a ttem p ts were m ade to p rocure a speciineu, b u t it was found
most diflicult to avoid covering windows and o th er undesirable objects witli tho "im and
several snap-shots a t th e bird failed. The nests, of wliich wo saw four in th e to'wn
were placed, in th re e instances, ab o u t th re e inches below th e eaves on th e house-side’
th e fo u rth being placed on th e side of a beam su pporting an overhanging roof which i¡
was ju s t under. The nests were large s tru c tu res of mud, qu ite open a t the’ top and
the ono which we managed with g rea t difiiculty to reach was lined with feath ers ; b u t
tliougli the bird was in th e nest, and th e date was th e 22iid of May, yet no eggs were
' contained in it, much to o ur disappointment. The other nests were beyond i-oacli, save
o n e ; and th e owner of th e house assured us th a t it contained 110 eggs, b u t would uot
allow us to a scertain if such was tbo case. This instance of the breeding of tho Crag-
Martin ill th e narrow streets of the town ot Andorra is. i t is th ought, a somewhat unusual
circumstance, and more especially so as th e town is n o t situated upon, or iu the close proximity
of, crags or clilfs...................... The bird was also noted in th e villages of Escaldas and
Encamp ; b u t wo did n o t observe any ncste, which might, bowevor. have existed. Tliere
were plenty of tl.em on th e great clilf a t Canillo. Tho species was very ahundimt 011
the great cliff below Merens, Upper Ariege, where th e many recesses in its face otfereil
al)iinclan.t ncsting-sites.”
Mr. IIoAvard Saunders says th a t in S outhern Spain th e species is “ resident throughout
the year, frequenting rocks and old ruins, also modern edifices, provided th a t th ey are
porclied 011 tho edge of a cr.ag. A colony which frequented a gorge of the Segura were
only to bo seen between twelve and one o'clock each day.” Although the birds were
evidently breeding, he did n o t succeed in finding a nest.
Colonel Irb y gives th e following note on th e species near Gihraltai-:—“ The Rock-
01- Crag -Martin ,'th o u g h universally distributed d u rin g tho brecding-scasou iu the rocky
Sierras, is to a great ex ten t migratory. Those which do n o t q u it th e co untry appear
d uring th e daytime in low ground near th e coast about th e iiiiddlo of October, great
qiianUties being then scon about Gibraltar. They roost .at th a t season about low rocks,
especially aliout the Rock. In March they re tu rn to tlicir brcciling-hauiits, some nesting
iu inaccessible places a t the ‘ back of th e rock.’ They commeneo about tho lOtli of
-March to build th eir nests, which rescniblo those ot tb e Houso-Martiii [Ohetldon ai-liiea).
Placed in th e roofs of caverns, these nests a re very difficult to roach, an d I did uot
succeed in ex.aminiiig tlio inside of ono. Tbe birds were s ittin g by tbe 30th of April.
One locality for nests near Gibraltar, and th e most accessible th a t I have seen, is a cave
iu a patch of rocks a t the entrance of La Ti-oeha, 011 the road from -■Ugociraz to Ojen,
whore it passes by the side of th e ravine c.alled ‘ La Oai-ganla del Capitan.’ .Tt the baek
of the rock, a t Gibraltar, is a cave almost nnder th e Osprey's cyry, which can only be
entei-od by landing from a boat in fair weathoi-. This cave is very largo and open, with
sand a t th e bottom, sloping npwai-ds for a considerable distance a t a sliai'ii angle. The
end of this cave, ju d g in g from the tra ck s of divers Genets or Striped Cats {Vicerrii),
scorns to be th e reg u lar diniiig-room of those animals ; for whenever 1 have visited the
place it was covered with th e tail-feathers and pinions of numbers of Bock-.Martins,
niiiiglcil with those of a good many Swifts, Kock-Doves, and a few Lessor Kestrels.”
°Accoriliiig to Mr. Tait, th e species is “ i-csiilent in Po rtu g al a ll the your round, h u t
partially m igratory with in it. The Ci-ag-Swallow makes its nest in th e precipitous dill's
of th e inlimd so riF , and I found one on a clilf of tho Ab itu ru ra, above Melrcs, on tbe
r i" h t bank of the Douro. In shape it resembles th a t of tho Uouse-Swallow; it was