Mr. H. Seebolim on Hirundo rufula. 167 



XVII. — Notes on Hirundo rufula and its Allies, ivith De- 

 scription of a supposed new Subspecies. By Henry 

 SeebohM;, F.Z.S. 



In ' Stray Feathers ' (v. p. 254) Mr. Hume gave an excellent 

 monograph of the Swallows of the subgenus Littia. Leaving 

 out the African species, Mr. Hume enumerates nine Asiatic 

 species, of which the range of one extends into South Europe, 

 The points upon which he relies for the discrimination of 

 the species are — (1) the presence or absence of striatious on 

 the rump, (2) the fineness or coarseness of the striations on 

 the underparts, (3) the colour and depth of the rump- 

 band, and (4) the size. Of these points all seem to be 

 more or less variable. 



Hirundo rnfula may always be distinguished by the colour 

 of the rump, which is not uniform chestnut, as in all the 

 other species, but graduates from chestnut next the back to 

 pale buff next the upper tail-coverts. There are no stria- 

 tions on tlie rump ; the chestnut on the nape is well deve- 

 loped ; and the striations on the underparts are very narrow. 

 This species breeds in Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine, Persia, 

 Turkestan, and Nepal. There appear to be two forms of it. 

 Examples from Greece, Asia Minor, and Palestine vary in 

 length of wing from 5 to 4*8 inches, whilst examples from 

 Gilgit and Nepal vary from 4'6 to 4*4 inches. One of the 

 most remarkable features of the Swallows appears to be the 

 very small variation in size in each species ; and as this differ- 

 ence in size in this case corresponds with a difference of geo- 

 graphical distribution, I propose to call the small eastern form 

 Hirundo scullii, or, if we follow the wise example of the Ame- 

 rican ornithologists in adopting the system of Linnseus, H. 

 rufula /3. scullii. 



Of the other species in which the general colour of the 

 rump is uniform, Hirundo erythropygia is the most distinct. 

 Its best character is its small size ; it has a length of wing 

 of 4*4 to 4*2 inches instead of 5*5 to 4*5 inches. Its next 

 best character is the fineness of the striations of the under- 

 parts. These striations are not much more distinct than 



n2 



