1870. ] ON THE COMMON SWALLOW. 247 
REMARKS. 
1. The Common Swallow on leaving the nest has a pale sienna 
frontlet and throat, the upper plumage very dull, and the entire 
breast suffused with pale buff ; the band on the chest very dusky, 
but large for the size of the bird. This plumage slightly intensifies 
as the bird gets older; and on leaving this country the chest-band is 
more distinct, the upper plumage more suffused with blue, and the 
throat and frontlet of a darker tinge; the outer tail-feathers and 
primaries also become more elongated (cf. descriptions of spec. 1 
and 2, supra, pp. 244, 245). 
2. When the young bird arrives in Southern Africa its plumage 
has undergone a complete change, which may be called the winter 
plumage of the bird of the year (cf. description of spec. 3, supra, 
p- 245); the throat is white with the very faintest tinge of rufous, 
abdomen white, breast-band broad, but pale brown, the upper sur- 
face dusky brown washed with blue, and the entire head brown, with 
very slight blue reflections. 
There is no doubt that this stage of dress is arrived at by the gradual 
bieaching of the young feathers, and the full plumage is regained dy 
an entire moult. This is shown especially by the quills, those of 
the old plumage being worn and pale in colour, the shafts being 
nearly white, whereas the new feathers, some of which, in our speci- 
mens above mentioned, are always to be found alongside of the old 
quills, have black shafts. The long primaries are the last to be 
shed. 
3. The adult specimens of Hirundo rustica, which pass the win- 
ter in Southern Africa, have the breast white; and as the period of 
the migration northward approaches, this becomes suffused with buff, 
and is very distinct when the bird begins its northward journey. On 
arriving in Europe both sexes (?), the male certainly, have the breast 
and, particularly, the under tail-coverts buff, the frontlet and throat 
rich chestnut, the breast-band and upper surface much more bril- 
liant blue than when it leaves the Cape. In the male the buff con- 
tinues during the summer, getting paler towards the autumn; but 
the breeding female is always pure white underneath. 
4. We may here call attention to the curious fact that though 
the young on leaving the nest has a frontlet of pale sienna, so com- 
plete is the process of bleaching through which the bird passes 
before reaching the Cape that on its arrival there all traces of the 
rufous frontlet have disappeared, and there is a mere indication of a 
frontlet by the presence of a few pale buff-coloured feathers. At 
the spring moult the red forehead is resumed. 
Before concluding the present essay we have a few words to add 
respecting the supposed variety of the Common Swallow to which 
the name of Hirundo riocouri has been given. We have examined 
several carefully authenticated specimens of this bird; and we fully 
believe it to be a distinct species, possessing a very limited range. 
Indeed we do not hesitate to say that its occurrence in Europe is 
very doubtful, and that its admission into the European avifauna 
