162 HirundofulvaofVieillot 



can be no doubt of his bird being identical with the species 

 which I shall proceed to describe. 



Length from 5 to 5 4 inches ; bill brownish black ;* upper 

 part of the head purplish blue ; upper part of the neck has a 

 streak of yellowish brown ; back light purplish blue, inter- 

 mixed with white ; tail coverts a little lighter ; frontlet and 

 rump yellowish brown ; upper-wing coverts the same colour 

 as the tail coverts ; chin ferruginous ; belly, vent, and lining of 

 the wings, wood brown ; wings and tail hair brown ; tail very 

 slightly forked ; tips of the wings extending, when folded, about 

 a line beyond the tail ; legs of a hair brown colour ; eyes 

 black; toes three before and one behind. Lays generally 

 four eggs. 



Cabinet of the Lyceum. 



The nest is hemispherical : six inches long and five broad ; 

 constructed with mud or clay, and sand combined : no hair or 

 sticks to make the materials cohesive ; the inside is softened 

 by grass broken fine and deposited on the clay. The exter- 

 nal surface of the nest is somewhat of a botryoidal aspect, ex- 

 hibiting small pieces of clay in rounded masses, and the aper- 

 ture turns down like the neck of a chemical retort. It was 

 placed under the eaves of a building where it was protected 

 from the weather. This fabric has been erected in three days. 

 This bird, as well as the H. lunifrons, has some resemblance 

 in its mode of nidification, to the Crag swallow (H. montana) 

 of Savoy and France. It differs from the H. lunifrons, in 

 having the tubular entrance at the bottom, instead of the top 

 of the nest, a difference which, however, may be owing to cir- 

 cumstances, and not characteristic of the species. It is very 

 much like the H. Davwrica or Davurian swallow, of the 

 Alpine parts of Siberia. The hemispherical nest in the cliffs 

 is similar, and also the general outlines of the birds, but the 



* I have followed, " Werner's Nomenclature of Colours," by P. Svme, 

 F:din. 1814. 



