Continuing a search for this species southward along the East Coast of Africa, it will be found that, according to the observations of Mr. Ayres in Natal, the Swallow arrives in that colony in great numbers in November, congregating and leaving again in March and April. Mr. Layard found it to be an annual winter visitant to the Cape Colony, and on one occasion when sailing from New Zealand to the Cape of Good Hope, on the 28th of November, he saw a Swallow and a Sand Martin fly about the ship for some time. He was then in lat. 33° 20′, long. 31° 50′, and about 290 miles from the Cape. Several insects (_Libellula_, _Agrostis_, and _Geometra_) were caught on deck, and we may presume, therefore, that the birds found sufficient food to support them at that distance from land. Passing eastward through Sinai and Palestine, where Canon Tristram has observed the Swallow in December,[69] we learn from Mr. Blyth that it is common in the north-west provinces of India during the winter months. Capt. Beavan saw it at Darjeeling in 1862, and Maunbhoom in 1864-65, where both old and young were very common in January and February, hawking over rice-kates and near tanks. In Northern Japan it was observed by Capt. Blakiston, and in North China by Mr. Swinhoe. Referring to a species of Swallow which he observed in Formosa, Mr. Swinhoe says (“Ibis,” 1863, p. 255): “In its habits, in nest and colour of eggs, &c., this bird entirely agrees with the European _H. rustica_; yet in size it is always smaller, and in minor personal features different. It ranges in summer from Canton to Pekin, and Mr. Blyth assures me that it is identical with specimens procured in winter in Calcutta; hence I infer that the birds which visit China in spring, and uniformly leave again in autumn, return to hybernate in the warm plains of India.” Mr. Blyth has remarked (“Ibis,” 1866, p. 336), “that the average of adult Swallows from the Indian region and China are smaller than the average of European examples, to the extent sometimes of an inch in length of wing; but some Indian are undistinguishable from European specimens.” Dr. Jerdon, in his “Birds of India,” says: “On carefully comparing specimens from England and Algiers in the museum at Calcutta with Indian specimens from various parts of the country, I can detect no difference.” In a notice of the birds of the Andaman Islands which appeared in the “Ibis” some years since, Capt. Beavan remarked that the European Chimney Swallow visits these islands at certain seasons, and is not at all uncommon.