CHELIDON. 253 



back ; bastard wing, primary coverts and quills dusky brown, edged with 

 olive ; tail blackish brown, edged with olive ; the four outer tail feathers white 

 at the tip of the inner web ; under tail coverts white, washed with yellow, and 

 with dusky centres to the feathers. Bill plumbeous, blackish at tip ; iris orange 

 yellow ; legs dark plumbeous. 



Length. 3-9 to 4 inches; wing 2-3 to 2-35; tail 1*25; tarsus 0*45. The 

 female is similar in colour, but slightly smaller. 



Hab. Pegu and Tenasserim ; found also in the Thoungyeen Valley. 

 According to Gates, it extends down the Malay Peninsula as far as Copah. 



Family HIRUNDINID^E. 



Broad-billed Passeres, with nine primaries. Bill short, depressed, com- 

 pressed at the tip, more or less curved ; gape very wide ; wings long and 

 pointed ; tarsi short j feet feeble. 



. Sub-Family. HIRUNDINIISLE OR SWALLOWS. 



Bill short, flat, nearly triangular, compressed at the tips with a slight emar- 

 gination ; gape large ; rictal bristles wanting ; two first quills generally equal ; 

 tail various, even, slightly emarginate or deeply forked ; tarsus and toes 

 feathered in some, plumage dense and soft, and always glossy. Nests usually 

 made of mud, or intermixed with hair, feathers, grass, &c., and against rocks, 

 walls, or under roofs of buildings, culverts, bridges, &c. 

 Gen. Chelidon. Boie. 



Bill shorter than in Hirundo \ ist quill longest, tarsi and toes feathered ; 

 tail slighly forked. 



763. Chelidon Urbica (Linn.}, Boie, 7m, 1822, p. 550; p., 

 Consp. Av. i. p. 343 ; Jerd., B. Ind. i. p. 166, No. 92 ; Hume, Sir. F. 1873, 

 p. 323 ; Blanf., East. Pers. ii. p. 216; Hume, Sir. F. 1879, p. 84; Butler, 

 Cat. B. Bombay Pres. p. 15. Hirundo urbica, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. p. 344 ; 

 Tern. Man. d* Orn. i. p. 428 ; Me Gill, Br. B. iii. p. 573 ; Seebohm, Br. B, 

 iii. p. 178. The ENGLISH HOUSE MARTIN. 



Above glossy blue black ; wing coverts blackish brown or dull black, the 

 lesser series slightly glossed with purple, and the median and greater series 

 with a steely gloss ; lower back and rump white with narrow dusky shaft lines ; 

 upper tail coverts steel blue ; tail blackish brown, with a slight steel gloss to 

 the centre feathers ; head blue black ; lores, feathers round the eye and ear 

 coverts black ; cheeks and entire under surface of the body pure white, also 

 the thighs ; sides of the body, flanks, under wing coverts and axillaries smoky 

 brown ; under tail coverts white, washed with dingy. Bill and feet black ; iris 

 dark brown. 



Length. 5-5 inches ; wing 4*25 ; tail 2-5 ; tarsus 0*45 ; culm en 0*35. 



Hal. Europe, S.-E. and Central Africa, Turkestan, Persia and N.-W. India, 

 also in the Neilgherries. Breeds in Europe, building a globular nest of mud. 



