5. HIEUNDO. 167 



22. Hirundo hyperytlira. 



Hirundo hyperytlira, BIyth, J. A. S. Bene/, xviii. p. 814 (1849) ; id. 

 Cat. B. Mus. As. Sue. -p. 198 (1849) ; 'Kelctart, Prodr. Cat. p. 118 

 (1852) ; Layai-d, Ann. ^- Mac/. Nat. Hist. xii. p. 170 (1853) ; Bh/th, 

 Ibis, 1867, p. 306 ; Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 69, no. 798 (1869) ; 

 Holdsio. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 419 ; Leejeje, B. Ceylon, p. 592 (1879) ; 

 Hume, Str. F. 1879, p. 84. 



Herse hyperythra, Bp. Consp. i. p. 340 (1850). 



Cecropis hyiierythra, Gould, B. Asia, i. pi. 30 (1868) ; Jerd. Ibis, 

 \87l,p.2,b-l;Hume,Str.F.lQ77,'p.2m. 



Adult. General colour above purplisb blue or deep steel-blue, a 

 little streaked ou the hind neck and mantle with fulvous, the 

 feathers having a concealed fulvous edging, which becomes evident 

 when they are disarranged ; wing-coverts like the back ; bastard- 

 wing, jH-imary-coverts, and quills blackish, externally glossed with 

 steel-blue ; feathers of lower back steel-blue, tipped with rufous like 

 the adjoining rump and upper tail-coverts, the longest of the latter 

 being steel-blue ; tail-feathers blackish glossed with steel-blue ; 

 crown of head like the back ; lores dusky, surmounted by a narrow 

 line of rufous from the base of the forehead, extending over the eye, 

 and forming a scarcely perceptible eyebrow ; sides of hinder crown, 

 ear-coverts, cheeks, sides of neck, and entire under surface of body 

 deep chestnut, very plainly marked with narrow blackish shaft- 

 lines, a little broader on the ear-coverts and on the throat ; thighs 

 and under tail-coverts chestnut, the longer under tail-coverts tipped 

 or subterminaUy spotted with blue, the longest entirely blue ; the 

 under wing-coverts and axiUaries chestnut, with distinct blackish 

 shaft-lines near the edge of the wing ; quills below dusky black : 

 " bill deep brown, in some specimens blackish, the base of the lower 

 mandible reddish ; legs and feet vinous brown ; iris sepia-brown " 

 {Lcgge). Total length 6-4 inches, culmen 0-4, wing 4'5o, tail 2*95, 

 tarsus 0-55. 



Sexes alike in plumage. 



Immature birds have the hue of the under surface paler than the 

 adults and the shaft-streaks not so clear (Legge). 



Hah. Ceylon. 



T. Thwaites, Esq. [C.]. 

 Pr. Kelaart [P.]. 

 Gould Collection. 



23, Hinindo semirufa, 



Hirundo semirufa, Simdev. (Eft: K. Vet.-Akad. Fork. Stockh. 1850, 

 p. 107; S/iarpe, Ibis, 1869, p. 188; Ayres, t. c. p. 290; Gray, 

 Hand-l. B. i. p. 69, no. 802 (1869) ; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 317; 

 id. Cat. Afr. B. p. 46 (1871); Ayres, Ibis, 1880, p. 2(!0 ; S/iarpe, 

 in Gates's Medabele Land, App. p. 312; id. ed, layareVs B. S. Afr. 

 p. 370, pi. ix. fig. 1 (1883) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 260 ; Ayres, 

 Ibis, 1884, p. 227. 



Adult. Above dark blue, inclining to indigo ; rump chestnut ; 

 upper tail-covcrts dark blue ; quills black, brownish underneath, 

 glossed above with dark blue ; tail black, glossed with blue above. 



