198 HIRTJNDINID^. 



head uniform glossy blue-black ; lores pale rufous ; in front of the 

 eye a Telrety black spot ; ear-coverts dull blue-black, slightly 

 varied with rufous margins to the feathers ; cheeks and throat deep 

 chestnut ; remainder of under surface paler chestnut or rufous, deep- 

 ening into rich chestnut on the under tail-coverts, the long ones 

 of which have a large subtermiual spot of blue-black ; under wing- 

 coverts and axillajies like the breast ; quills dusky below, more ashy 

 along the inner web. Total length 5-2 inches, eulmen 0-3, wing 

 3-75, tail 2-1, tarsus 0-45. (Mus. Lisb.) 

 Hah. Benguela. 



7, Petrochelidon spilodera. 



Hirundo spilodera, Sundev. CEfv. K. Vet.-Akad. Fork. Stockh. 1850, 



p. 108 ; Grmj, Hand-l. B. \. p. 70, no. 828 (1869). 

 Phedina spilodera, B}}. Rivist. Contemp., Torino, 1857, p. 4. 

 Hirundo luuifrons, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 56 (1867, nee Say). 

 Hirundo alfredi, Haril. Ibis, 1868, p. 153, pi. 4 ; Gray, Uand-l. B. 



i. p. 71, no. 838 (1869). 

 Petrochelidon spdodera, Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 293 ; Gurney, Ibis, 



1874, p. 101 ; Butkr, Feilden, ^ Eeid, Zool. 1882, p. 249 ; hharpe, 



ed. Layard" s B. S. Afr. p. 357 (1884). 



Adult. Head dark brown, obscurely glossed with dark blue, 

 lighter brown towards the nape ; back and scapularies deep blue, 

 the feathers edged latitudinaUy with ashy white, giving a striped 

 appearance to the whole back, the scapularies and wing-coverts just 

 faintly edged with rusty white ; the lower part of the back blue, 

 not marked with whitish stripes ; rump aiid upper tail-coverts pale 

 rufous ; wing-coverts and quills brownish black, with a shght blue 

 gloss on the latter and on the extremities of the quills ; upper 

 tail-coverts blue-black, all but the centre ones rufous at their 

 ends ; tail brownish black, also slightly glossed with blue ; a patch 

 of feathers in front of the eye pale sienna ; cheeks, ear-coverts, and 

 sides of the neck dark blue ; chin white ; throat tinged with sienna 

 and covered with little black spots ; below this a blackish band 

 marked with whitish ; under surface of the body white, washed on 

 the upper part of the breast and on the flanks with sienna ; a few 

 scattered black spots on the breast ; under tail-coverts and vent 

 pale rufous, some of the former entirely black, and the others rufous 

 with a blackish spot. Total length 5-9 inches ; of biU from front 

 0-4, from gape Q-G ; wing 4'5, taU 2-1, tarsus 0-5, middle toe 0*45, 

 hind toe 0"2. 



Young. Differs from the adult in being sooty blackish with 

 scarcely any bluo gloss ; the wing- coverts like the back and 

 narrowly edged with pale fawn-colour, more broadly on the greater 

 coverts and inner secondaries ; rump pale fawn-colour, with which 

 also the upper tail-coverts are broadly tipped ; quills and tail- 

 feathers blackish ; head sooty black, only slightly paler than the 

 back ; a narrow line of rufous at base of forehead and over the eye ; 

 cheeks, ear-coverts, sides of face, and throat black, the chin mottled 



