There is no evidence that it ever visits Australia; but Mr. Gould has described a Swallow from Torres Straits under the name _Hirundo fretensis_, which is certainly very like our well-known _H. rustica_, and might be a young bird of that species in autumn plumage. It is singular that no Swallows visit New Zealand. It cannot be that the islands are too distant from Australia, where several species of Swallow abound, because, as Mr. Layard has remarked, two, if not three, species of Cuckoo (_Eudynamys taitensis_ and _Chrysococcyx lucidus_) perform the journey in their annual migration twice a year. The attachment of Swallows to the neighbourhood of water at roosting-time—which formerly led to the supposition that they actually retired under water for the winter—may be easily accounted for by the circumstance that the willow branches not only afford them most convenient perches, but enable the birds to crowd close together, and so secure greater warmth to individuals than they could possibly enjoy if each roosted upon a separate twig in trees or shrubs of different growth. [Illustration: MARTIN] THE MARTIN. (_Hirundo urbica._) Although arriving in this country somewhat later than the Swallow, the Martin may be said to have nearly the same geographical range. Mr. Yarrell thought that the Swallow did not go so far north as the Martin,[70] but both are found in summer in Iceland and the Faroe Isles. Mr. Dann remarked that there was no want of food for them in Norway and Lapland, as the morasses in the sheltered valleys swarm with insects. During the season that it is absent from England it resides in North Africa, Egypt, Nubia and Abyssinia, Palestine, Arabia, and North-west India. Capt. Irby states (“Ibis,” 1861, p. 233) that it is common in the cold season in Oudh, and Col. Tickell observed great numbers at Moulmein; but they appeared from time to time, and not constantly, like _H. rustica_.[71] With regard to Palestine, it seems probable that the Martin spends the greater portion of the year there, for Canon Tristram found it breeding in colonies on the sheltered faces of cliffs in the valleys of Northern Galilee. Mr. Wright says (“Ibis,” 1864, p. 57) that in Malta it is seen at the same seasons as the Swallow, but stays part of the winter, when _H. rustica_ has departed. Dr. Giglioli observes that it arrives at Pisa at the end of March, at which time it has also been noticed at Gibraltar. The movements of this bird and others of the genus have been concisely illustrated by Mr. Forster in a communication to the Linnæan Society, in the following table, giving the mean date of arrival: Naples. Rome. Pisa. Vienna. Bruges. London.