“The only birds known to me that breed in their winter quarters are two species of Sand-martin (_Cotyle riparia_ and _C. sinensis_). In India I have been familiar enough with birds in their winter quarters, and have no hesitation in asserting that migratory species (with the remarkable exceptions named) do not even pair until they have returned to their summer haunts. Were they to do so, I could not but have repeatedly noticed the fact, and must needs have seen very many of their nests and young.” To my suggestion that from Mr. Layard’s observation of young birds there, the Common Swallow, _H. rustica_, probably breeds at the Cape during the season that it is absent from the British Islands, Mr. Blyth replied:— “According to my experience of _Hirundo rustica_ (and I have had the best opportunities for observation), it decidedly does not breed in its winter quarters. Some birds of this species, which pass their non-breeding season within the tropics, may migrate south instead of north, and breed in the summer of the southern hemisphere instead of that of the northern hemisphere; but there is no reason to suppose that they are the same individuals. Were it so, the 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 representative 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.” [Illustration: BLACKCAP] THE BLACKCAP. (_Sylvia atricapilla._) Five species may be conveniently grouped under the generic term _Sylvia_, or Fruit-eating Warblers, and these, with one exception, visit Great Britain regularly in the spring. Two of them, the Blackcap and Garden Warbler, enjoy little more immunity from traps and birdlime than does the Nightingale. Their fine song marks them at once as the prey of the professional bird-catcher, and during the month of April immense numbers are taken daily. The Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat are also sought after as cage-birds, but not to the same extent, for their song is neither so musical nor so varied.