Genus HIRUNDO Linnæus, 1758.
Plumage blackish above, glossed with blue or green, and the feathers with white bases; no white band on rump; tail deeply forked, in some species the outermost feathers attenuated and extending beyond the closed wings.
Species.
- a1. Under parts not streaked with
blackish lines; rump uniform with the back.
- b1. Chin and throat chestnut, but the fore breast crossed by a more or less complete band of glossy black.
- b2. Chin, throat, and fore breast entirely chestnut with no blackish color on breast. javanica (p. [428])
- a2. Under parts conspicuously streaked with blackish; rump chestnut. striolata (p. [429])
390. HIRUNDO RUSTICA Linnæus.
COMMON SWALLOW.
- Hirundo rustica Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 191; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1885), 10, 128; Hand-List (1901), 3, 192; Oates, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1890), 2, 277; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1903), 3, 237; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 69.
Mindanao (Mearns); Palawan (Whitehead). Europe, northern Asia, Indian Peninsula, Manchuria, China, and Indo-Chinese provinces; in winter to Africa and Malay Peninsula.
“Coloration.—Forehead, chin, and throat chestnut; lores black; upper plumage and wing-coverts glossy purplish blue; quills and tail black, suffused with glossy green; all the tail-feathers, except the middle pair, with a white patch on the inner web; sides of head and neck and a very broad pectoral band glossy black, a few of the feathers of the latter part narrowly fringed with chestnut; lower plumage from the pectoral band downward pale rufous, becoming rather darker on the under tail-coverts. Length, up to 203; tail, up to 114; wing, 127; tarsus, 13; bill from gape, 15; bifurcation of tail, about 68.