HIRUNDO ss fasciata. 
White-banded Swallow. 
ea cate i ee 
Family Hirundinide.—Sub-Fam. Hirundina. 
Feet slender, perching, the outer and middle toe connected at the 
base: bill entirely depressed. Nob. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
G. Hrrunpo.—Lesson. Man. 1, 419. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Glossy blue black + thighs and band on the abdomen snowy. 
Hirundo fasciata. Lath. Ind. Orn. 2, 575. 
L’Hirondelle a ceinture blanche. Buffon. Pl. Enl. 724, f. 2. 
White-bellied Swallow. Lath. Gen. Syn. 4. 567. 
rr 
Tuts elegant bird, although mentioned by several writers, 
is of great rarity. So seldom, indeed, is it seen in col- 
lections, that we never beheld a specimen prior to our visit 
to the Royal Museum of Paris, where our drawing was 
made. Buffon’s description seems to have been transcribed 
by all succeeding writers; and the only figure hitherto 
published is that at Plate 724 of the Planches Knluminées. 
The habits of the Swallow tribe are known to every one. 
Like the Flycatchers, they feed upon insects captured on 
the wing; but these insects are of so small a size, that 
they are swallowed during the flight of the bird. This at 
once accounts for Swallows not being provided with those 
stiff bristles, for confining the struggles of ‘their prey, 
which are so essential to the Flycatchers. These latter 
birds frequently feed upon insects much too large to be 
swallowed at the moment of capture; they therefore hold 
their prey until they again perch, and swallow it when at 
rest. 
The figure is the size of life. Excepting the band on 
the body, and the spot on the thighs—both of which are 
snowy white—the whole plumage is of a deep black, richly 
glossed with dark blue. The first quill is longest, and the 
tail is deeply forked. 
According to Buffon, this bird is sometimes seen perched 
on floating trees in the rivers of Guiana and Cayenne, 
