HtRUNDO. 75 



Swallows ; and as various degrees of emargination on the 

 one hand, or of cuneation on the other, are observed in 

 many genera, so may it be with Swallows. Wherefore, it 

 is not expedient to consider every little modification of the 

 tail, or of the covering of the feet, as indicative of a generic 

 difference. Our three British Swallows are nearly enough 

 allied to be placed in one genus. They all hunt in the same 

 manner, but differ in their mode of nestling. 



33. HIRUNDO RUSTICA. RED-FRONTED OR CHIMNEY SWAL- 

 LOW. 



Upper parts glossy steel-blue ; forehead and throat brown- 

 ish-red ; a broad band on the fore-neck dusky ; tail very deeply 

 forked, each feather, the two middle excepted, with a white 

 spot on the inner web ; breast and abdomen reddish- white. 

 The young have the tail shorter, the plumage less glossy, the 

 forehead and throat dull pale brown. 



Male, 8|, 14, 4{, ft, f^ ft, ft. Female, 7f, 14., 



Generally distributed in Britain and Ireland, arriving from 

 the tenth of April to the fifth of May, and departing early in 

 October. The nest is placed under the eaves of out-houses, 

 on beams or rafters within them, on the face of rocks, in 

 quarries, or on the sides of wells, or the shafts of old coal-pits, 

 and is formed of mud, with a lining of grass and feathers, its 

 form being half-cup-shaped, or on a flat surface entirely so, 

 always widely open above. The eggs, four or five, elongated, 

 ten-twelfths in length, seven-twelfths in breadth, white or 

 reddish -white, marked with dark-red dots and specks. Two 

 broods are sometimes reared in the season. 



Swallow. Common Swallow. 



Hirundo rustica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 343. Hirundo rustica, 

 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 427. Hirundo rustica, Red-fronted 

 or Chimney Swallow, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, iii. 558. 



34. HIRUNDO URBICA. WHITE-RUMPED OR WINDOW 

 SWALLOW. 



Head, hind neck, and fore part of the back glossy steel- 

 blue ; rump and lower parts white ; tail deeply forked, the 

 feathers plain ; the tarsi and toes feathered. The young dif- 

 fer from the adult chiefly in having the dark parts of the 

 plumage duller, and tinged with brown. 



Male, 5ft, 12, 4, ft, ft, A, ft- 



Generally distributed in Britain and Ireland, arriving 



