428 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



H. rustica, it will be found to be so only in the majority of specimens, 

 and by no means invariably; in fact there is as much variation with 

 H. gutturalis in the direction of a complete collar on the fore neck as 

 there is in H. riistica in that of a broken collar. Again, although the 

 majority of H. gutturalis have a white under surface, still this is not 

 an unfailing character of the eastern race ; for many undoubted examples 

 are rufescent below, although there is never such a decided tint of 

 rufous as in full-plumaged H. rustica/' 



392. HiRUNDO JAVANICA Sparniian. 



ASIATIC SWALLOW. 



Hirundo javanica Spakrman, Mus. Carls. (1789), 2, pi. 100; Shakpe, Ciit. 

 Birds Brit. Mus. (1885), 10, 142; Hand-List (1901), 3, 194; White- 

 head, Ibis (1899), 236 (nesting habits); Gates and Reid, Cat. Birds' 

 Eggs (1903), 3, 239; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 70. 



Lai-ang' lai-ang', Manila. 



Babuyan Claro (McGregor) ; Bantayan (McGregor) ; Basilan (Steere Exp., 

 Bourns d Worcester, McGregor) ; Batan (McGregor) ; Bohol (Everett, McGregor) ; 

 Cagayan Sulu (Guillemard, McGregor) ; Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester, Mc- 

 Gregor) ; Camiguin N. (McGregor); Catanduanes (Whitehead); Cebu (Everett, 

 McGregor) ; Cuyo (McGregor) ; Dinagat (Everett) ; Guimaras (Bourns & Wor- 

 cester) ; Leyte (Everett) ; Lubang (McGregor) ; Luzon (Whitehead, Bourns uf 

 Worcester) ; Marinduque (Steere Exp.) ; Masbate (Bourns <£ Worcester) ; Min- 

 danao (Platen, Bourns (C- Worcester) ; Mindoro (Steere Exp., Schmacker, Mc- 

 Gregor) ; Negros (Steere Exp., Bourns d Worcester) ; Palawan (Lempriere, Platen, 

 Whitehead, Steere Exp., Bourns t6 Worcester, White) ; Panay (Bourns d Wo7ces- 

 t«r) ; Eomblon (McGregor); Saniar (Steere Exp.) ; Sibutu (Everett); Sibuyan 

 (McGregor) ; Siquijor (Bourns d Worcester, Celestino) ; Sulu (Guillemard, 

 Bourns d Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns d Worcester); Ticao (McGregor). 

 Southern India, Malay Peninsula, IMolucca Islands, islands of Torres Straits, 

 New Guinea, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Ceylon. 



Adult {sexes similar). — Lores black; entire forehead, chin, throat, 

 and fore breast chestnut-rufous; upper parts including wings and tail 

 glossy steel-blue, feathers of neck antl back with white bases; breast, 

 abdomen, under tail-coverts, sides, and axillars ashy brown, whitish on 

 abdomen; longest tail-coverts with white tips and black subterminal 

 bars; rectrices, except middle pair, vvith white spots on inner webs. 

 Length, about 140. Male, wing, 109; tail, 53; depth of fork, 12: bill 

 from nostril, 7; tarsus, 9. Female, wing, 107; tail, 51; depth of fork, 

 7; bill from nostril, 7. 



Young birds have the chin, throat, and breast much lighter, upper 

 parts with less gloss, and the forehead black like the cro\\Ti with no green 

 gloss. 



The Asiatic swallow is abundant and widely distributed. U makes a 

 crescent-shaped nest of mud which it fastens to a rock-clitf or to a beam 

 under a building. Three heavily incubated eggs were collected in Bohol 

 in July. They are white, dotted with reddish and blackish brown, and 

 with a few under shell-markings of lavender; they measure 17.7 by 12.4 



