HIRUNDO URBICA. 197 



The White-Rumped Window Swallow. 



(Hirundo Urbica.) Linn. 



" True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings, 

 Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures Kings." 



— Richard III. 



The window swallow, sometimes called the house martin, 

 arrives about the same time as the last. It frequents the 

 same localities ; and although less in size, resembles it, but is 

 easily distinguished by the white patch on the rump. It is 

 fuller formed, has the wings and tail shorter, and the tail less 

 deeply forked, hence its flight is not so rapid, nor has so many 

 sudden evolutions. The upper part of the head and neck, half 

 of the back, scapulars, and some of the wing coverts are glossy 

 steel blue ; the wings, tail, and tail coverts chocolate brown, 

 slightly glossed with green. There is little difference between 

 the male and female ; length to end of tail 6 inches, and 12 

 inches in extent of wings. They are more numerous than the 

 last, and also arrive in full plumage, and depart before 

 moulting. The bill is black, mouth yellow, iris brown. 

 Although the legs and feet are also very small and feathered, 

 they can alight on a wire, kirk roof, or branch of a tree, and 

 (unlike the swift) can rise from the ground with ease. I have 

 seen them alight upon trees 20 feet high ; but although they 

 can walk on the ground, they do so in an awkward manner, 

 owing to their short legs. 



They build about the end of May, and take from six to ten 

 days. They begin at the bottom and build upwards. After 

 rain, they alight at the side of a pool or on the road (I have 

 seen them at the side of the gutter), dab a portion of the damp 

 mud on their bill, fly to the nest, and apply it to the outer 

 crust. The various pellets are discernible when finished. The 

 outer shell is J inch thick, held together by short straws or 

 fragments of grass, ingeniously mingled, and held together by 

 their viscid saliva. It is from 6 to 8 inches in diameter. It is 

 lined with a layer of wool, hair, fine dried grass or pieces of 

 straw, and a thick bed of feathers, mixed with hair, wool, bits of 

 linen or tape. In building the crust, one of the birds alights 

 on the rim, with its tail against the wall, and by wriggling its 

 head and bill rapidly, plants the pellets in their place. The 

 usual sites are the upper corner of windows or under the eaves 



