80 -HIRUNDININAY 
THe Wire-TAILED SwALLow. 
Leishra, Hin. 
Length, to end of middle tail-feathers, 4°75 ; outer tail-feathers, 
5 inches longer; expanse, 12; wing, 4°12 to 4°7; tail, except the 
outer two feathers, 1:5; tarsus, 0°5; bill at gape, 0°5; bill at 
front, 0°25. 
Bill black ; irides very dark brown; legs and feet black. 
Above, very glossy steel-blue; top of head deep ferruginous ; 
lores deep black; beneath pure white, with white spots on all, 
except the four central tail-feathers, the outermost prolonged 
in the form of a thin wire; the female differs in having the 
outer tail-feathers much less developed. 
The Wire-tailed Swallow occurs throughout the district, but 
is nowhere numerically common; it is a permanent resident, 
and breeds from February to August, rearing at least two broods 
in the year; the nest is deep half saucer-shaped, and is com- 
posed of pellets of mud, well lined with soft feathers, and is 
usually placed in the immediate vicinity of water; under the 
cornices of bridges, arches of culverts, sides of wells, where there 
are projections under which they can build, niches in buildings 
overhanging water, or under projecting ledges of rock, it is 
always placed against the side and a little below the roof or pro- 
jection, just enough space being left for the ingress and egress of 
the bird. 
The eggs, generally three in number, are long, narrow ovals, in 
shape a good deal pointed towards one end, are fine and delicate 
in texture, and fairly glossy when fresh, but as incubation pro- 
ceeds this disappears. 
Their color is white, beautifully speckled, spotted, and blotched 
with various shades of reddish-brown. When fresh and unblown, the 
ground color is a delicate pink, owing to the yolk showing through. 
They will not desert the nest, even if the eggs are taken. I have 
obtained as many as nine eggs from a single nest, but never 
more than three at any one time. 
They vary a good deal in size, but average 0°72 in length by 
0°52 in breadth. 
Hirundo erythropygia, Sykes. 
85.—Hirundo daurica, Lin. —Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. I, 
p. 160; Butler, Guzerat ; Stray Feathers, Vol. III, p. 451; 
Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 877; Murray’s Vertebrate 
Zoology of Sind, p. 103; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; 
Ibis, 1885, p. 59. 
THE RED-RUMPED SWALLOW. 
Length, 6°5 to 7; expanse, 12°25 to 13 ; wing, 41 to 45; tail, 
3 to 3°35; (the tail is forked to the extent of about 1°5 inches) ; 
tarsus, 0°46 ; bill from gape, 0°58 ; bill at front, 0°3. 
Bill black ; irides brown; legs black. 
