HIRUNDO 267 



In habits it does not differ from its allies, and indeed all the 

 three preceding species as well as the present one so intergrade 

 with each other and H. rustica that intermediate specimens are 

 always to be found in a series, and they can only be looked on 

 as very closely allied subspecies. In the British Museum are 

 examples of Hirundo erythrogastra from Brazil and Para which 

 are absolutely undistinguishable from specimens of H. tytleri 

 from Siberia. 



393. RED-HUMPED SWALLOW. 

 HIRUNDO RUFULA. 



Hirundo rufula, Temm. Man. iii. p. 298 (1835); Naum. xiii. p. 209, 

 Taf. 383, fig. 4 ; Dresser, iii. p. 487, pi. 161 ; Gould, B. of Asia, i. 

 pi. 27 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. x. p. 156 ; Gates, F. Brit. Ind. 

 Birds, ii. p. 284 ; H. scullii, Seebohm, Ibis, 1883, p. 167 ; Sharpe, 

 torn. cit. p. 158. 



Hironddle rousselinc, French ; Eondine forestiera, Ital. ; 

 Alpen-Schu-albe, German. 



ad-. (Asia Minor). Crown, back, and scapulars deep black glossed with 

 steel-blue ; nape, hind neck, sides of the neck and rump rusty red, the last 

 paling almost to white on the shorter tail-coverts ; wings, tail, and longer 

 tail-coverts black, slightly glossed with steel-blue ; under parts white 

 washed with pale rufous buff on the breast, flanks, and abdomen, the 

 whole under parts very finely streaked with black ; bill blackish ; legs 

 dark brown ; iris blackish brown. Culmen 0'32, wing 4'8, tail 4'15, tarsus 

 0'55 inch. Sexes alike. 



Hob. Southern Europe as far west as Italy and Sicily, 

 ranging east through Asia Minor and Palestine to Persia, 

 Afghanistan, and Turkestan. In winter it occurs as far south 

 as Abyssinia, and it has strayed on one occasion at least as far 

 north as Heligoland, and has occurred in Malta. 



In habits it much resembles H. rustica, and like that species 

 captures its insect food almost entirely on the wing. Its note 

 is said to differ slightly from that of the Common Swallow, and 

 it differs widely in its mode of nidification, for it constructs a 

 retort-shaped nest of mud with a funnel-shaped entrance, and 

 lines it with grass and feathers. The nest is attached to the 

 under side of the roof of a cave or vault, and this species never 

 nests in colonies, but singly. It breeds commonly in South-east 

 Europe and Palestine. The eggs, from 4 to 5 in number, are 

 pure white, unspotted, and measure about 0'80 by 0'55. 



