HIRUNDININA. 79 
the wings are long and pointed; the two first quills generally 
equal, sometimes the first longest ; the primary quills are nine in 
number, the secondaries moderate, covered at the base only by 
short coverts; the tail is various, even in some, or only slightly 
emarginate, deeply forked in others; the tarsi are short; the 
feet small; the middle-toe lengthened, the lateral toes nearly 
equal, and the claws short, slightly curved, acute and _ slender. 
‘The tarsus is occasionally feathered, and in some the toes also ; 
these last, like the Swifts, have a tendency to revert the posterior 
toe ; their plumage is soft, dense, and glossy. 
Genus, Hirundo, Lin, 
Bill rather large, very broad at the base, triangular, compressed 
at the tip; tail long and forked, or short and square, or sub-fur- 
cate; tarsus naked; feet moderate. 
Hirundo rustica, Lin. 
82.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 157; Butler, Guzerat ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. III, p. 451; Deccan and South Mahratta 
Country ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 377; Murray’s Vertebrate 
Zoology of Sind, p. 102 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; 
Ibis, 1885, p. 59, 
Ture. Common Swatnow. 
Length, 5:25 to 8-9; expanse, 13 to 14; wing, 4°3 to 5; tail, 
275 to 45; the middle tail-feathers are only two inches in 
length. 
Bill dusky -black ; irides deep brown; legs dusky-black. 
Male——Above glossy blue-black ; the chin, throat, and a narrow 
band on the forehead deep ferruginous; a slightly glossed black 
pectoral band; beneath, from the breast, rufescent-white ; tail 
with all, except the mesial feathers, having a large white spot 
on their inner web, j 
The female has the outer tail feathers shorter, and the under 
parts whiter. The young may be known by the pale ferruginous 
hue of the throat, and by the dull color of the upper plumage, 
as also by the shorter outer tail-feathers, 
The European Swallow is a common cold weather visitant, 
arriving early in August, and leaving towards the end of March, 
but stragglers are occasionally seen, both earlier and later ; they 
do not appear to breed anywhere within our limits, but in the Bolan 
Pass, Quetta, Chaman, and Kandahar I found them breeding 
freely. 
Hirundo filifera, Steph. 
84.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. I, p- 159; Butler, Guzerat ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. III, p. 451; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 
IX, p. 877 ;Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, Pp. 
59; Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 102. 
