CHELIDON ALBIGENA, Heugi. 



HEUGLIX'S MARTIX. 



Chelklon alblgena, Heugl. J. f. O. 1861, p. 119 ; id. Om. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 169 (1869) ; 

 Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 293 ; Dresser, B. Eur. iii. p. 499 (1875) ; Sharpe, Cat. 

 B. Brit. Mus. x. p. 91 (1885). 



C. subcaudalibus albis : rectricis extimoe pogouio intcrno versus basin albo-uotato. 



Hub. in Africa septeutrionali-orientali. 



Adult. Similar to C. iirbica, but diS'crs in the throat being pure pale dusky ash-colour, with a mous- 

 tachial line of pure white very distinctly indicated ; sides of breast, flanks, and under tail-coverts 

 delicately shaded with smoky grey ; outer webs of under tail-coverts with conspicuous subtcrminal 

 dusky spots, the shafts blackish ; rump whitish, the middle feathers dusky ash-colour and markcfl 

 with some duller spots ; tail emarginate, slightly extending beyond the wing (to the extent of 

 2 lines) ; inner web of outer tail-feathers marked near the base with a conspicuous whitish spot : 

 bill black; claws pale horn-colour; iris dusky. Total length 5", wing 3" 11'", tail 2" 3^'", 

 tarsus 5"''8, culmen 2"''8. 



Hab. Bogos Land, North-east Africa. 



This species, if distinct species it be, has not been rediscovered since the late Baron von 

 Heuglin described it thirty years ago, and we have nothing to add to the description 

 ■which he then gave. He considered it to be decidedly different from C. urhica, tliongh 

 of the same size as the latter. He writes: — " The well-defined white cheek-stripe, the 

 slightly forked tail, and the white spot on the inner web of the outer tail-feather are the 

 striking cliaracters which distinguish the species, apart from the colour of the under 

 surface of the body. 



" I only met with it on one occasion, at the beginning of August 1861, in a some- 

 what large flock, after a violent thunderstorm, near Keren, in the Bogos country. I 

 shot several birds, which, on the whole, were similarly marked. I took them for Common 

 Martins until I saw the grey colour of the under surface ; in only one of the specimens 

 is the lit?ht colour on the inner web of the outer tail-feather almost cntirelv absent." 



The description is copied from that given in the well-known work of Baron von 

 Heuglin, on the Ornithology of N.E. Africa. 



For the geographical distribution of Ucugliu's Martin, cidc inj'ra, i'late 7 [Map]. 



UN J 



