HIRUNDO 265 



lower throat a broad black band glossed with steely blue ; rest of the 

 tinder parts buffy white ; bill and legs black ; iris brown. Culm en 0'4, 

 wing 4'S, tail 4*7, lateral rectriees extending about 2'75 beyond the middle 

 ones, tarsus 0'45 inch. Sexes alike. 



Hal. Europe generally ; Asia as far east as the Yenesei 

 valley and even Manchuria ; wintering in Africa as far south as 

 the Cape Colony, in India, Burma, the Malay peninsula, China, 

 and the Philippines. 



In its habits it is confiding and anything but shy, and, 

 feeding entirely on insects, it is one of our most harmless and 

 useful birds. Exceedingly agile and swift on the wing, it cap- 

 tures its prey in the air, flying in fine weather at a considerable 

 altitude, or gliding near the ground when the weather is dull 

 and damp. Its only note is a low twibter, which it utters when 

 collected with others, and perched on a bare bough or a telegraph 

 wire, or when at its nest. It commences nidification directly 

 after arrival at its breeding-place, and will select the same 

 place year after year if undisturbed. Its nest, which is cup- 

 shaped, constructed of mud worked together with bits of straw, 

 and profusely lined with feathers, is placed on the face of a 

 rock or quarry, in a chimney, under the eaves of a roof, or on 

 the beam of an outhouse, and it is extremely partial to build- 

 ings. The eggs, from 4 to 5 or 6 in number, are white, sparingly 

 marked with purplish grey shell-markings, and more profusely 

 scattered dark red surface spots and blotches, in size averaging 

 about -I 75 by 0'55. Two broods are usually reared in the 

 season. 



389. SUBSP. HIRUNDO GUTTURALIS. 



Hirundo yutturalis, Scop. Del. Flor. and Faun. Insubr. ii. p. 96 (1786) ; 

 David and Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 124 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. x. 

 p. 134 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 173 ; Gates, F. Brit. Ind. Birds, ii. 



p. 277. 



Ad. (Siberia). Differs from H. rustica only in having the black 

 thoracic band narrower, and more or less interrupted in the middle. 

 Culmen 0*4, wing 47, tail 3'6, tarsus 0'4 ; outer rectrices 1*8 inch longer 

 than the middle ones. 



Hob. Eastern Siberia as far north as Kamchatka; Japan, 

 Mongolia, and China ; wintering in Southern China, Burma, 

 India as far west as Calcutta, the Indo-Malayan area, and has 

 been obtained as far south as the north coast of Australia. 



In habits and nidification it does not differ from H. rustica. 



