HrRTTNDINID^. gg 



Family HIRUNDINIDyE. 



The Swallows wore for many years associated with the Swifts 

 {C>/psehdce), to which in outward form and habits of life they much 

 assimilate. That the resemblance is strictly external has been 

 shown by the researches of many comparative anatomists, and the 

 fundamental diflferences between the two families has been weU 

 pointed out by the late Professor Garrod (Zoologist, 1877 p 217) 



The Swallows therefore may be described as a family of Broad- 

 billed Passeres (Osclnes latirostres of recent authors) with nine 

 primaries. They approach in many respects the Flycatchers (Mm- 

 cicapulce), of which the genera HemiclieUdon and Artomyias display 

 a definite Swallow-like appearance. 



Dr. Stejneger (Pr. TJ. S. Xat. Mus. vi. p. 31) has endeavoured to 

 show that radical changes in the nomenclature of Swallows are 

 necessary ; that Forster having used aulidon as a generic name for 

 Hirundo rustica of Linnaeus, Hirundo for H. nrhica, L.. and CUvicola 

 for H.riparui, L., these generic names ought to be rigidly appUed 

 Ihe change is too great and the risk of confusion too assured for 

 me to venture to foUow Dr. Stejneger, though I have couAdnced 

 myself that he is technicaUy correct. I trust, however, that the 

 true Swallows will be permitted to remain in the genus Hirundo 

 as custom may here be allowed to supersede priority of nomen- 

 clature, resting as the latter does upon a nominal list of British 

 Birds, without generic or specific descriptions. 



Key to the Subfamilies. 

 a. With the outermargin of the first primary 



smooth, not serrated, in the male HIRUNDININ^ n 85 



6. \\ ith the outer margin of the first primary ' 



serrated in the male PSALIDOPROCNIN^, 



[p. 20L 



Subfamily HIRUNDININ^. 

 (True Swaliows.) 

 In this Subfamily are found the bulk of ihe Hirundinidce, i. e. the 

 Martins, Crag- Martins, Fork-tailed SwaUows, and Square-tailed 

 Swallows. The characters for the definition of the genera are prin- 

 cipally founded on those of Professor Baird's 'Eeview,' which were 

 adopted by me in my paper on the Uinmdinida of the Ethiopian 

 Region m 1870, and have since been employed by Dr. Cones and 

 Messrs. Salvin and Godman. The possession of a forked tail does 

 not seem to me to be a very strong generic character, for every grada- 

 tion in this respect occurs in Hirundo, and the same may be said of 

 lachfMaand Atticora. For the same reason I have not separated 

 totde and Ptyonoprocjne or BiUis, as one of the principal grounds 

 tor their generic separation is their mode of nidification, and to the 

 discovery of this fact their outward form lends no clue 



