4 



Cory, Cat. B. West Incl. p. 115 (1892) ; C. Hart Merriam, N. Amer. Paim. no. 7, 



p. 112 (1893). 

 Clivicola riparia cinerea, Stejn. Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 29, p. 268 (1885). 

 Cotile riparia sinensis, Tacz. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1885, p. 466 ; id. Mem. Acad. 



Imp. Sci. St. Petersb. (7) xxxix. p. 188 (1891). 



C. minor: ala 4"25-4"35 poll. : fascicula parva ad finem tarsi posticam posita : torque pectorali brunnea. 



Hab. per rcgiones Palfearcticam et Neareticam fere totas SBstivans, in regionibus Indica, ^Ethiopica, et 

 Neotropica liibcruans. 



Adult male. General colour above dark earthy brown, a little lighter on the lower back, rump, and 

 upper tail-coverts, the feathers of which have more or less distinctly indicated margins of paler 

 brown ; wing-coverts darker brown than the back, with indistinct margins of lighter brown ; 

 bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills very dark brown, the innermost secondaries paler and 

 more like the back ; tail-feathers brown, with a narrow whitish edging towards the tip of the 

 inner web of all but the centre feathers ; lores dusky blackish, with a slight hoary shade above 

 them, remains of hoary edges to the feathers being seen on the basal frontal feathers ; feathers 

 below the eye and ear-coverts brown ; cheeks, throat, and under surface of body pure white, the 

 throat separated from the chest by a very broad and distinct collar of dark brown, this brown 

 colour also extending down the sides of the body, and occupying the centre of the breast in the 

 shape of a few feathers which have the inner webs dark brown ; thighs brown ; axillaries and 

 under wing-coverts dark brown, those near the edge of the wing broadly edged with whitish ; 

 quills dusky brown below, lighter aloug the inner webs : " bill blackish brown ; legs dark brown ; 

 iris dark hazel" [Dresser). Total length 4'8 inches, culmen 0'3, wing 4*25, tail 2'1, tarsus 0"45. 



Adult female. Similar in plumage to the male. Total length 5 inches, culmen 0"35, wing 4'2, tail 1-9, 

 tarsus 0'4. 



Young. Lighter brown than the adult, and distinguished by the sandy-rufous or ashy- whitish edgings 

 to the feathers of the back and wings ; the throat is also slightly tinged with pale rufous; the 

 throat-band is strongly pronounced, but has pale edges to the feathers. 



These light margins to the feathers seem to disappear somewhat before the young birds leave 

 this country, specimens killed in August having the pale edgings much broader and more 

 strongly characterized than a young bird killed at the end of September. 



Like other Swallows, the Sand-Martin moults while in its winter-quarters. Mr. Gurney has presented 

 to the British Museum a specimen shot by Mr. T. Ayres in the Transvaal on the 28th of 

 February. The body-plumage seems to have been completely moulted, but some of the quills 

 and tail-feathers are not entirely renewed. From this specimen it appears that in the fresh- 

 moulted bird the inner secondaries are distinctly edged with white, and remains of these white 

 edges are seen in all newly-arrived birds in Europe. 



Dr. Stejneger observes: — "The Kamtschatkan specimens collected by me agree very well with birds 

 from Western Europe, although being a shade darker. They also agree with them in the extent 

 of the furcation of the tail, the distance between the tips of the longest and shortest tail-feathers 

 being as great as the length of the hind toe with claw. In all the American specimens 

 examined by me (16), the same distance is hardly louger than the hind toe without claw, this 

 being the case even in specimens from Alaska. It will, therefore, be well not to unite the two 

 races, the American form being Clivicola riparia cinerea (Vieill.) ." 



