ORIENTAL CHIMNEY 8 WALLOW. 85 



CHELIDONES. 



Famihj HIRUNDINIDzE. (Bonaparte.) 



Genus Hirundo. (Linnceus.) 



Generic Characters. — Beak very short, very much depressed, and broad at 

 the base; upper mandible curved downwards at the point. Feet short, with 

 three toes in front entirely divided, or united at the base only by a short 

 membrane; claws much curved; wings long and pointed. 



ORIENTAL CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 



Hirundo rustica, var. savignyi. 



Hirundo savignyi, Leach. Stephens. 



" rustica orientalis, Schlegel. 



" cahirica, Lichtenstein; Cat., 1823. 



" riocourii, Audouin; Des. de I'Egp., vol. 13. 



" hoissonneautii, Temminck; Man. 3, p. 652. 



Cecropis savignyi, Bote; Isis, 1828, p. 316. 



HirojidelU de cheminie orientate. Of the French. 



Osttiche Rauctischxvalhe, Of the Germans. 



Diagnostic Characters. — Under parts of the body, from the crop to the 

 base of the tail, of a dark chesnut. Length six inches; carpus to tip four 

 inches; tail from base to end of lateral feather three inches; tarsus five 

 lines; beak from gape to end of upper mandible seven lines. 



This '^ permanent variety" of our English. Swallow is found princi- 

 pally in Macedonia, Egypt, and Eastern Siberia. It is very common in 

 Egypt, but is only found accidentally in Europe, — Spain and Greece 

 being tlie localities noted by Temminck, Miihle, Lindermayer, etc. 



Professor Blasius, in '^ Naumannia," 18->9, p. 254, has a paper upon 

 this bird, which I will transcribe nearly entire, as it not only expresses 



