158 HTRTJNDINIB^'E. 



p. dad. sk. N.W. ofBampiir, rersian W. T. Blan ford, Esq. [C.]. 



]5alucliistan, April 1:2, 



1872. 

 q. 2 iiuiu- sk. Kooniaylee, Abyssinia, W. T. Blanford, Esq. [C.]. 



Feb. 14, 18(j8. 



Subsp. a. Hirundo scullii. 



Iliruudo rufida {mm Temm.), Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1880, p. 48; 



Scnih/, Ibis, 1881, p. 427. 

 Hii'uudo rufuls, var. scullii, Seehohm, Ibis, 1883, p. 168. 



Adult (Residency Grounds, Nepal ; Dr. Scully : type of species). 

 Very similar to H. rufula, but smaller : " biU black ; legs and toes 

 dusky brownish fleshy ; claws black ; iris dark brown " (^Sculhj). 

 Total length 7'5 inches, culmen 0-35, wing -l-S, tail 3-8, tarsus 0-5. 

 (AIics. H. Seehohm.) 



The specimens from Pushut agree with the type in coloration. 

 Wing 4-35-4-45 inches. 



Obs. In Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay's collection is a bird obtained by 

 himself at Byan Khyl, in Afghanistan, with the wing 4-5 inches 

 long. It closely resembles a male from Mount Tabor in his col- 

 lection, which only measures 4-6 inches in the wing (cf. Wardlaw 

 Ramsay, I. c). Possibly intermediate forms may be found between 

 H. rufula and H. scullii. 



Hah. Afghanistan, along the Himalayas to Nepal. 



a, b. Ad. sk. Pushut, Afghanistan {Griffith). India Museum. 



Hirundo daurica and its allies. 



Two ornithologists have recently devoted their attention to this 

 extremely difficult group of Swallows, with somewhat similar 

 results. Mr. A. 0. Hume (Str. F. 1877, pp. 254-2G7) has contri- 

 buted a paper on the Indian species and their allies, which has 

 greatly increased our knowledge of the subject, while Mr. Seebohm 

 (' Ibis,' 1883, pp. 167-169) has treated the species from a Palsearctic 

 as well as an Indian point of view. 



Out of the eleven species recognized by Mr. Hume and the eight 

 allowed by Mr. Seebohm, three are easily distinguishable, viz. H. mela- 

 nocrissa, H. domicella, and II. rufida ; and Mr. Seebohm's new race, 

 H. scullii, is allowed by me to be different. But as regards the 

 other species, it seems that both the above-named authors have not 

 much faith in their characters of distinction, for the latter often con- 

 sist merely in a longer or shorter wing. The other characters, such 

 as the breadth of the rump-band or the amount of striation on the 

 rump, seem to me to be equally as variable as the length of the 

 wing and the coarseness or fineness of the shaft-stripes on the 

 under smface. Some stress has also been laid by Mr. Hume on the 

 dusky ear-coverts ; and at one time I thought myself that this would 

 prove a reliable point of difference between the races ; but I find 



