Adult.—Lores and crown blackish brown; remainder of upper parts grayish brown, each feather with a light gray fringe; primaries and coverts blackish brown; tail dark brown, its feathers edged with white; under parts white with a distinct dark brown band across the breast. Length, about 115; wing, 96; tail, 45; depth of fork, 7; bill from nostril, 5; tarsus, 9.
“Young birds have all the feathers of the upper plumage and the wings margined with rufous, the chin and throat fulvous, and the breast broadly brown.” (Oates.)
The bank swallow has a very wide range, but occurs in the Philippines as a rare migrant only.
389. RIPARIA CHINENSIS (Gray).
CHINESE BANK SWALLOW.
- Hirundo chinensis Gray, in Hardwick’s Illustr. Ind. Zool. (1830), 1, pl. 35, fig. 3.
- Cotile sinensis Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1885), 10, 104; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 236 (nesting).
- Clivicola sinensis Sharpe, Hand-List (1901), 3, 190; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1903), 3, 232; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1901), 190.
Luzon (Whitehead, Mearns, Curran). Formosa and southern China; in winter to Indian Peninsula and Indo-Chinese countries.
Adult.—Above light earthy brown, lighter on the rump; wings and tail darker brown; chin, throat, breast, sides of head and of neck pale gray; abdomen, vent, sides, and under tail-coverts white. Length, about 100; wing, 89; tail, 40; depth of fork, 5; bill from nostril, 4; tarsus, 9.
Young.—“The young bird has all the feathers of the upper plumage and wings broadly margined with rufous, and the chin, throat, and breast are pale rufous.” (Oates.)
The Chinese bank swallow is considerably smaller and has a less deeply forked tail than the preceding species. Whitehead found it fairly common in northern Luzon and observed numbers entering their nesting-holes in the high banks of the Abra River in February.