264 PERICROCOTUSHTRUND 



bill and legs black ; iris dark brown. Culmeii 0'45, wing 3 '45, tail 4'01, 

 tarsus 0'55 inch. The female has the forehead, lower back, rump, band 

 across the wing, and under parts bright yellow, the rump rather duller ; 

 crown, nape, and back slate-grey slightly washed with apple-yellow ; 

 middle rectrices and base of the rest black, the terminal portion of the 

 latter rich yellow. 



Hal. The Himalayas from Eastern Kashmir to Assam, 

 Upper Burma, Manchuria, Kan-su, N. China, frequenting the 

 mountains in the summer, and wintering on the plains. 



In habits it resembles its allies, and frequents woods and 

 groves of non-evergreen trees. Its note is a silvery ti-ti-ti, and 

 like its allies it feeds chiefly on insects of various kinds and 

 their larvae. It breeds in the mountains at an elevation of 

 from 3,000 to 6,000 feet, in May and June, building a compact 

 and delicate cup-shaped nest, pretty high up in an oak, rhodo- 

 dendron, or other deciduous tree. The nest is constructed of 

 fine twigs, fir-needles, grass-roots, fine grass, and herbaceous 

 plant-stems, interwoven and coated with cobwebs and lichens, 

 without any lining. The eggs, 4 to 5 in number, are dull 

 white, tinged with pink or pale green, richly and profusely 

 blotched, spotted, and streaked, usually most densely towards 

 the larger end, with brownish red and pale purple, and average 

 about 076 by 0'57. 



HIRUNDO, Linn., 1766. 



388. THE SWALLOW. 



HIRUNDO RUSTICA. 



Hirundo rustica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 343 (1766) ; Naum. vi. p. 49, 

 Taf. 145, fig. 1 ; Gould, B. of E. ii. p. 54 ; Hewitson, i. p. 257, 

 pi. Ixv. figs. 3, 4 ; Gould, B. of Gt. Brit. ii. pi. 5 ; Newton, ii. 

 p. 340; Dresser, iii. p. 477, pi. 160, fig. 1 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. 

 Mus. x. p. 128 ; Saunders, p. 163 ; Lilford, ii. p. 78, pi. 36. 



Hirondelle de cheminfo, French ; Andorinha, Portug. ; G-olon- 

 drina, Span. ; Eondine, Ital. ; Rauch-Schwalbe, German ; Zwaluw, 

 Dutch ; Hussvale, Forstucsvale, Dan. ; Ladesvale, Norweg. ; Ladu- 

 svala, Swed. ; Latopciaskynen, Finn. ; Kosatotchka, Russ. ; Ababil, 

 Hindu ; Pyan-hlwa, Burmese. 



< ad. (Sweden). Forehead, chin, and throat chestnut ; rest of the 

 head and entire upper parts glossy steel-blue, the dorsal feathers white at the 

 base, wings and tail black, glossed with bottle-green, all but the middle tail- 

 feathers with a white patch towards the end of the inner web ; across the 



