PHEDINA MADAGASCARIENSIS, iiarti. 



MADAGASCAR STRIPED SWALLOW. 



Fragile borbonica (nee Gm.), Cnss. Cat. Hirund. Mus. Philacl. Acad. p. 10 (1853). 

 FhecUna maclac/asearieiisis, Hartl. J. f. O. 1860, ]). 83 ; id. Beitr. Faun. Madag. p. :^7 



(1861) ; Vinson, Voy. Madag. p. 201 (1865) ; Sliarpe, P. Z. S. 1870, pp. 295, 388 ; 



id. Cat. Afr. B. p. 46 (1871) ; id. P. Z. S. 1875, p. 78 ; Hartl. Vog. Madag. p. 65 



(1877); Sharpe, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus, x. p. 123 (1885). 

 Phedina, sp. iudet., Rocli & E. Newt. Ibis, 1862, p. 270 ; E. Xewt. Ibis, 1863, 



p. 270. 

 Hirti}idoborbonica,Sch\. P. Z. S. 1860, p. 421 (pt.) ; id. & Pollen, Hist. Nat. Madag., 



Ois. p. 68 (1868, pt.). 

 Fhedina horbomca, var. madagascariensis, Milne-Edwards & Grandid. Hist. Nat. 



Madag. xii. Ois. p. 395, pis. 150, 151, 164 a (1883). 



P. similis P. borbonicee, sed magis cinerascens, et subtus albicans minimi fumosa. 



Hab. in insula ' Madagascar ' dicta. 



Adult. Above rather pale brownish grey, the shafts of all the feathers being distinctly marked ; ^ving- 

 coverts and quills blackish brown, the latter paler underneath ; tail dark brown, somewhat lighter 

 on the inner webs; lores black ; cheeks, side of the neck, and breast greyish brown, with darker 

 shaft-stripes ; rest of the under surface of the body white, with thin longitudinal stripes : the 

 lower part of the abdomen and under tail-coverts pure wliitc, the shafts of the feathers only 

 indicated by a narrow line of brown ; sides of the breast and flanks greyish brown : " bill black ; 

 feet dark brown " [Grandidier). Total length 5*.5 inches, wing 4-7, tail 2. 



The greater length of the under tail-coverts in the Madagascar bii'd noticed by us ( P. Z. .^ . 

 1870, p. 389) does not seem to hold good, on examining the series in the Museum. Tlie wing in 

 the ]Madagascar bird varies from 4"45 to 4"85 inches. The Reunion birds have the wing I'.'ID, tin; 

 Mauritius ones 4"7 to 4' 75. 



The Madagascar birds are easily distinguished by their lighter and greyer colour, wliitc abdomen, 

 and nearly white under tail-coverts, which have only a black shaft-line; in the Mauritins 

 and Bourbon bird the brown colour overshadows the nholc of the uiulerparts, and there is \w\w 

 of the grey colour on the ujipcr surface; the under tail-coverts, as a rule, partake of tlie dingy 

 colour of the under surface, but they are decidedly wliiler in some s[)cciniens than in otlicrs, and 

 show only brown mottlings and black shaft-lines, but they are never so white as the Madagiusear bird. 



Hab. Madagascar. 



By the majority of writers this species is only considered to be a furni or race of 



