160 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



grayish or greenish-white, with markings in various shades 

 of brown or dull grayish-purple, sometimes uniformly distri- 

 buted, but generally heavier at the large end. Average size 

 • 80 by • 58. 



Family Hirundinid^. 

 Swallows. 



The Swallows are a familiar family found all over the world. 

 Their whole structure is adapted to an aerial existence, and 

 their food consists of insects which are captured entirely on 

 the wing. Their wings are greatly elongated ; there are only 

 nine primaries, the first being almost as long as the second. 

 The bill is broad, flat, and triangular, with a very wide gape, 

 and the merest trace of a hook at the tip ; the rictal bristles 

 are weak. The legs and feet are feeble, and the tarsus is 

 smooth. The taU has twelve feathers, and is generally long 

 and forked. The sexes are alike, and there is only one moult 

 yearly, in the spring. The immature plumage does not 

 greatly differ from that of the adult. Swallows resemble 

 Swifts in their outward form, but there are wide structural 

 differences. The Swift has ten primaries, the first being large, 

 only ten tail feathers, and a hooked bill. The feet of the 

 Swallow are typically Passerine, the Swift has the hind toe 

 either drected forwards or reversible. 



Many members of the family are migratory, and found over 

 a wide expanse of the globe ; others are resident, and in some 

 cases confined to a small area. All of the species authentically 

 recorded from Ceylon belong to the genus Hirundo — or true 

 Swallow — in which the tarsus and toes are bare, and the 

 greater part of the upper plumage is of a highly glossy blue- 

 black. 



The Martins have either the tarsus and toes feathered — 

 genus Chelidon — or the upper plumage brown and without 

 gloss — Cotile and Ptyoywprogne. Legge, however, records 

 that two competent ornithologists, Messrs. Bligh & Parker, 

 have observed, without being able to secure, a species of 

 Martin with a darkish under surface (vide Legge, pp. 598 and 

 1217). If specimens are ever obtained, they may possibly 

 turn out to be a species of Crag Martin — Ptyonoprogne — either 



