HIRUNDINIDAE 523 



tioually square ; while the lateral feathers may be almost linear, 

 as in Hirundo rustica, or even wire-like, as in H. smithii. 



Chelidon is purplish- or bluish-black, or brown, having a white 

 rump occasionally barred with black, and white or bullish under 

 parts ; Tacliycineta is similar, or greener and somewhat bronzy, 

 in certain cases lacking the white rump, in others shewing white 

 mottlings above. Hirundo is glossy metallic black, with a vari- 

 able amount of chestnut or rufous on tlie head, rump, or lower 

 surface ; the last of these regions exhibiting much white or having 

 a black pectoral band, while streaky markings are not uncommon. 

 Cheramoeca is blue, black, white, and brown above, and white 

 l)elow with a black breast-patch ; Frocne is either entirely blue- 

 black or has some white beneath, P. tapera alone being brown, 

 with a longitudinal band of the same colour on the white lower 

 surface. Atticora is blue-black or greenish above, black and white 

 or brown underneath ; Fetrochelidon is steel-blue with concealed 

 white striations, the forehead, nape, rump, and most of the lower 

 surface being chestnut, rufous, or buff, with or without stripes ; 

 FsaJidoprocne is uniform blue, green-black, or sooty, F. alhiceps 

 having a white crown and chin. Cotile, Fhedina, and Stelgi- 

 dopteryx are dull brown above, the first being white, grey, brown, 

 or rufous below, the second white with longitudinal brown streaks, 

 and the third white and rufous with yellow middle to the breast 

 and abdomen in two species. The plumage of most Swallows is 

 very metallic, and white spots are often prominent on the tail 

 feathers in Hirundo, Chelidon, Cotile, and Fctrochelido/t. The 

 female is duller than the male in Frocne only. 



The range of Hirundo and Cotile is practically world-wide, 

 reaching from beyond the Arctic Circle in summer to South 

 Africa, India, and Brazil in winter, not to mention resident 

 southern species ; no Swallow, however, occurs in New Zealand, 

 nor is Cotile found in the Australian Eegion. Four species of 

 Fetrochelidon are found in America, two in Southern Africa, two 

 in the Australian Eegion, and one in India — a remarkable dis- 

 tribution. Fsalidoprocne, Fhedina, and Cheramoeca are Ethiopian, 

 Mascarene (with Madagascar), and Australian respectively: Tachy- 

 cinefaandFrocne extend over the New World from its Arctic portions 

 toVat'dgonia,, Atticora from that country to Guatemala, Stelyidopteryx 

 from Canada and British Columbia to Bolivia and Brazil. Chelido7i 

 is confined to the Old World, migrating in autumn to Central 



