294 MR.R.B, SHARPE ON ETHIOPIAN HIRUNDINID&. [May 12, 
on the extremities of the quills; tail brownish black, also slightly 
glossed with blue; a patch of feathers in front of the eye pale 
sienna; cheeks, ear-coverts, and sides of the neck dark blue; chin 
white, throat tinged with sienna and covered with little black spots, 
below this a blackish band marked with whitish ; under surface of 
the body white, washed on the upper part of the breast and on the 
flanks with sienna, a few scattered black spots on the breast ; under 
tail-coverts and vent pale rufous, some of the former entirely black, 
and the others rufous with a blackish spot. Total length 5:9 inches ; 
of bill from front 0°4, from gape 0°6 ; wing 4°5; tail 2°1; tarsus 0°5, 
middle toe 0°45, hind toe 0:2. 
Hab. Middleburg, Cape Colony (Jackson, Layard); Transvaal 
(Ayres). 
The exact locality of the specimens originally described by Prof. 
Sundevall is not given; but, as they were collected by Wahlbeig, 
it is most probable that they came from Caffraria or Natal. 
I had for a long time been puzzled as to what the true Hirundo 
spilodera of Sundevall really was; and I was therefore delighted 
to find at Leyden one of the typical specimens collected by Wahl- 
berg and received in exchange from the Stockholm Museum. I at 
once saw that the lately described Hirundo alfredi of Hartlaub was 
identical, as any one will admit who compares the two diagnoses. 
That of Prof. Sundevall is given in the ‘ Gfversigt’ of the Stock- 
holm Academy ; and as this work is often inaccessible to the working 
ornithologist, I reproduce his description here verbatim, merely 
adding that to the student of African ornithology the paper by the 
learned Professor is one of the highest interest, as it contains an 
account of Wahlberg’s ornithological discoveries in Southern Africa. 
A set of the ‘ @fversigt’ is in the Society’s library. 
The following is Sundevall’s description (J. e.) :— 
‘‘HrRUNDO SPILODERA, n. sp. Fusca, dorso ceruleo-nitido, 
albo vario ; uropygio crissoque fulvis, gutture pectoreque an- 
tico fulvis nigro maculatis. Cauda fusca, immaculata, tantum 
leviter emarginata, pennis obtusis. Caude tectrices maxime 
nigre. Lora fulva. Nares rotundate. Ala 112, tars. 12; 
cauda 58.” 
This, placed side by side with the diagnosis of Hirundo alfredi, 
leaves no doubt as to the identity of the two birds. The descrip- 
tion given by me is taken from the afore-mentioned specimen in 
the Leyden Museum, which is a male from Caffraria (Wahlberg). 
Mr. Gurney is no douht right in supposing that the bird figured in 
the ‘ Ibis’ is an adult ; but the plate, obliterating as it does all trace 
of the peculiar striped appearance of the back, destroys the identity 
of the species. 
In order to make assurance doubly sure, I wrote to my friend 
Dr. Tristram, who very kindly sent me for examination the type of 
Hirundo alfredi, so that I have now carefully examined the ty- 
pical specimens of both Hirundo spilodera and H. alfredi, and 
am satisfied of the complete identity of the two species. 
