64 . PASSERES. HIRUNDINID.E. 



nigra of Gmelin and Latham, as the latter ornitho- 

 logist attributes that species to St. Domingo as well 

 as Guiana. 



CAVE SWALLOW.* 

 Hirundo fjoeciloma. — mihi. 



Mature consideration convinces me that this 

 species is quite distinct from the H. fulva of Vieillot 

 though closely alKed to it. The present may be at 

 once recognised by the conspicuous mottling of its 

 shoulders and back with white and blue black, a 

 character which, as far as I have examined, is in- 

 variable. The form of its nest also differs greatly 

 from the bottle-like structures of the interesting bird 

 of the Rocky Mountains. 



The Cave Swallow does not appear to be in any 

 degree migratory in Jamaica, being abundantly 



* Length 5^ inches, expanse 11, flexure 4, tail 1-^, rictus -^i, beak 

 along culmen ^, tarsus ^, middle toe ^, lateral toes -j^, equal. 



Irides dark brown ; beak black, feet dark grey. Forehead dark 

 chestnut ; crown and hind head black, glossed with greenish-blue ; 

 cheeks, chin, and throat paler chestnut, separated from that of the fore- 

 head by the black passing over each eye to the nostrils ; the chestnut 

 of the throat runs up in a narrow collar round the neck ; back variegated 

 with blue-green, and white, each feather being white, with a dark tip ; 

 rump chestnut, the feathers sometimes having pale tips ; tail-coverts and 

 tail broA\'nish black, the former having pale tips ; tail nearly even ; 

 wings brownish black, the tertiaries in some, edged and tipped with 

 white ; breast and sides pale chestnut, the colour deepening in a crescent- 

 shaped band across the breast ; medial belly, white ; under tail-coverts 

 pale chestnut. First and second quills equal. Legs feathered to the 

 tarsal joint. The sexes exactly alike. 



