band of chocolate-brown ; rest of the bofly white, the flanks slightly shaded with smoky brown ; 

 in the centre of the breast a streak of dark brown in continuation of the brown pectoral band, 

 several of the feathers being dark brown on their inner webs ; thighs and adjacent feathers on 

 the sides of the rump brown; axillaries and under wing-coverts "white, slightly shaded with smoky 

 brown; quills dusky brown below; "bill and legs black; iris dai'k hazel" [T. E. Buckley). 

 Total length 6'1 inches, culmen 0"-1j, wing 5, tail 2'^, tarsus 0'5. 



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

 tarsus 0'4'5. 



Yoioiff. Differs from the adult in being somewhat darker, and in having rusty edges to the feathers of 

 the ujiper parts as well as of the pectoral collar. Total length 6 inches, wing 4*7, tail 2. 



The amount of brown in the centre of the breast varies with individuals, being sometimes scarcely per- 

 ceptible, whereas in other examples it extends in a broad streak nearly to the abdomen. It 

 seems to be most strongly developed in the birds of North-eastern Africa, which are also slightly 

 darker, but it is impossible to separate specimens from the various parts of the continent. 

 Tlie white spot on the tail-feather, which induced Dr. 11 artlaub to separate C. eques fi-om 

 C cincta, appears to be merely an accidental cluiraeter, for tlie West-African specimens in the 

 Uritish IMuseum do not possess it ; though, on the other hand, Mr. Seebohm has one from 

 the Transvaal which shows it, but several specimens from the latter locality which we have 

 examined do not exhibit a trace of such a spot. As Count Salvador! has already pointed out, the 

 males appear to exceed the females slightly in length of wing, the latter measuring from 4"9 to 

 5'15 inches, whereas the males have the wing 5'3 to 5'4 inches. 



Hal). Nearly the whole of the Ethiopian Region. 



The present species is easily recoguized by the broad l)and of brown across the chest. Its 

 range is set forth in detail beloAV, and it would appear that it is found nearly everywhere 

 in tropical Africa, but is more plentiful in the soutiiern part of the Ethiopian Region. 

 The following is Mr. E. L. Layard's account of the species in South Africa: — 

 " The first specimens of this Bank-Swallow reached me from Capt. Bulger, of H.M. 

 loth PLCgiment (2nd Batt.), who procured it at Windvogelberg, on the frontier. I 

 sul)sequently, in October 18G5, discovered it about 14 miles from Cape Town, hawking 

 about a small stream; it was there in some abundance. I again recognized a pair sitting 

 on the telegraph wires near Somerset West ; and on arriving at Mr. Vigne's farm found 

 a pair breeding in the bank of the river Zonder End. The nest was about three yards 

 deep, in a low bank. We did not obtain the eggs. The parent birds never seemed to 

 lly far from the spot, but skimmed up and down the river. On our poiating them out, 

 the Messrs. Vigne, who have paid some attention to the birds found in their neighbour- 

 hood, pronounced them strangers to them ; and we do not think they have been in the 

 vicinity of Cape Town till the year 1865. During the wliole of 1866, Mr. L. C. Layard 

 found them abundant near Cape ToT\n, and after tliat date until we left the Cape this 

 Swallow could always be met with in that vicinity during the summer months. We 

 fancy that previously to this the species could not have been very plentiful at the western 



