126 HlRIJNDINTDiE. 



Hirundo rustica and its allies. 



The races of Chimney-Swallows are by no means easy to decipher, 

 and they have been the subject of much discussion in ornithological 

 works. I recognize five ; and as the series iu the British Museum 

 is very large, illustrating the ranges of the Chimney-Swallows 

 in a very complete manner, but few additional remarks will here 

 be necessary. 



Mr. Dresser, in the ' Birds of Europe,' docs not distinguish the 

 Eastern Chimney- Swallow {H. gutturalis) from H. rustica, and says 

 thai the latter merges gradually into H. erijthrogastra as it proceeds 

 eastwards. I think that he cannot have examined a sufficiently 

 large series of full-plumaged birds from China and Japan (the 

 breeding-quarters of H. gutturalis), or I believe he would have 

 recognized what a distinct race it really is. 



I say nothing about the probability of hybridization taking 

 place between the various forms of H. rustica, for at present we have 

 no positive evidence of such being the case ; but I would draw atten- 

 tion to the fact that although, in my opinion, H. savignii does not 

 occur in Palestine, the examples of JI. rustica from that country are 

 permanently more rufous than those from any part of Europe, 

 and this may be due to a strain of H. savignii from adjoining 

 localities. They are, however, always to be distinguished even 

 from young H. savignii, and are to be matched by specimens from 

 different parts of Europe. 



The same difficulties attend the determination of the Swallows 

 which winter iu Burmah, where many specimens occur which are 

 puzzling to the natui-alist. They may be hybrids between the 

 various races of H. rustica ; and nothing but continued study by 

 field-naturalists can solve these points in question. It seems to 

 me that a case of hybridization between U. rustica and H. tytleri 

 would result in offspring very difficult to distinguish from H. 

 enjthrogastra. 



More recently, in his ' History of British Birds,' Mr. Seebohm has 

 reviewed the question and recognizes five races. H. rustica, accord- 

 ing to this author, has a wide summer range in Europe, extending 

 to the Valley of the Yenesay, but it is said to winter in Africa and 

 iu " Scinde and West India." My experience is that it shares to a 

 great extent the winter-quarters of the Eastern Chimney-Swallow, 

 called by Mr. Seebohm H. rustica var. gutturalis, and it is quite 

 possible that it accompanies the latter occasionally back to its summer 

 home. It will be seen from the specimens enumerated below that 

 there are many places where both races occur together in winter ; 

 and the Burmese countries appear to be the winter residence of at 

 least four of the Chimney-Swallows — H. rustica, H. gutturalis, 

 H. erytlirogastra, and U. tytleri. 



Unmistakable specimens of H. rustica occur in collections made 

 still further to the eastward than Bm-mah ; and I have seen examples 

 with a complete breast-band from China and the Molucca Islands, 

 localities where one would expect the H.-gutturalis form to reign 



