SWALLOW. 347 



southward, and Western Siberia ; but its eastern limits 

 are very imperfectly traced. Mr. Seebohm found it common 

 enough at Jennisaisk, and examples from China and Japan, 

 though presenting some slight modifications, are assigned 

 to this species by Mr. Dresser, who remarks, however, that 

 " as one moves eastward it will be observable that there 

 is a general tendency in specimens to diverge from the 

 typical European form towards Hirundo horreorum, the 

 species which inhabits the Nearctic region ; and in Eastern 

 Siberia, near Lake Baikal, specimens of this latter form 

 are found in no way differing from typical American 

 examples." The same excellent authority is disposed to 

 think that Mr. Gould's H. fretensis from North Australia is 

 identical with H. rustica, and he has examined specimens of 

 the latter from several islands in the Malay Archipelago, 

 the Andamans, Ceylon and many places in India. Our 

 Swallow, therefore, taking also into account its appearance 

 throughout Africa, has a very wide range, but it must be 

 understood that all the southern localities are but its 

 winter retreats, and it is to be remarked that most of these 

 localities are the home of some" species of Swallow more 

 or less resembling our own, which is either wholly 

 stationary or much less migratory than H. rustica. 



In the adult male on arrival in spring, the bill is black : 

 irides hazel : forehead chestnut, rest of the head and all the 

 upper parts shining steel-blue, the feathers of the back 

 being white at the base ; wing- and tail-quills black, glossed 

 with bluish-green, the middle rectrices wholly so, the rest 

 of them with a white patch on the inner web, nearly round 

 on the pair next the middle, but gradually elongated on the 

 others till, on the outermost, it becomes a diagonal stripe ; 

 the chin and throat chestnut, followed by a broad thoracic 

 band of black glossed with steel-blue ; the rest of the lower 

 surface warm buffy- white, deepest in tint about the vent ; 

 lower tail-coverts occasionally with a black shaft-streak : legs, 

 toes and claws black. 



Whole length eight inches and a half, of which the outer- 

 most tail-feathers measure nearly five inches ; the wings 



