76 A HANDBOOK OF EUROPEAN BIRDS. 
Length 7°5 to 8 inches; culmen 0°3; wing 4°8; tail 4°25 ; 
tarsus 0°45. 
Adult Female: Not so bright generally: outermost 
rectrices shorter, beneath shaded with buff, and chest-band not 
so broad. 
Young in first plumage: Frontal region, throat and 
under tail-coverts pale cinnamon-brown ; chest-band. blackish ; 
wing and tail-feathers with narrow pale inner margins ; rump 
and upper tail-coverts with obscure pale tips: gape creamy- 
white. 
Distribution: A common summer visitant to Europe, 
wintering in the Ethiopian and Indian regions. 
Habitat: Cultivated districts, near houses ; about rivers. 
and lakes. 
RED-RUMPED SWALLOW. 
Hirundo rufula Zemm. 
Adult Male: Crown and éack deep blue, the latter marked 
with white; superciliary stripe, dack of neck and rump chestnut + 
wings and tail black, glossed with blue; under-parts white, 
washed, especially on flanks, with reddish-buff; throat and 
breast with narrow, dark longitudinal stripes ; under tail-coverts. 
broadly tipped with black ; bill, legs and feet blackish ; irides 
dark brown. Length 7 inches; culmen 0°32; wing 4°8 ; tail 
4°1; tarsus 0°5. 
Young: Duller, not so striped beneath and more rufous ; 
some of wing-feathers tipped with reddish-buff; outermost 
rectrices showing a whitish patch on inner web. 
Distribution: Occurs in Southern and South-eastern 
Europe, ranging across Asia Minor and Palestine as far east as. 
Turkestan. 
Habitat: Very similar to H rustica. Vine-clad valleys. 
Genus CHELIDON. 
HOUSE MARTIN. vy 
Chelidon urbica (Zzvm.) 
Adult: Above bluish-black ; xwmp white; wings and tail 
