4 



Adult male in breeding plumage. General colour above glossy purplish blue, the mantle slightly varied 

 with white bases to the feathers ; on the sides of the lower baek a tuft of silky-white plumes, 

 some of whifih are edged with blaek ; lesser and median wing-eoverts like the back ; greater 

 coverts, bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills black, externally glossed with purplish blue, 

 with somewhat of a steel-green appearance on some of the feathers ; tail-feathers blackish, 

 washed with steel-green, all but the centre feathers with a large rounded spot of creamy white on 

 the inner web becoming longer and more oblique on the outer feathers ; head like the baek, the 

 nape varied with white bases to the feathers ; forehead deep rufous ; lores deep black ; ear-coverts 

 and feathers below the eye purplish blue ; cheeks and throat deep rufous, separated from the 

 breast by a broad collar of glossy purplish blue, slightly interspersed with a few rufous bars on 

 the centre of the collar ; fore neck and remainder of under surface pale rufous buff, a little deeper 

 on the vent and under tail-coverts, the longest of the latter with a terminal spot of black, repre- 

 sented on some of the others by a blackish shaft-line ; axillaries and under wing-coverts like the 

 breast, the former a little deeper in colour ; quills blackish below : bill black ; feet black ; iris 

 dark brown. Total length 7'3 inches, eulmen 0-35, wing 5-05, tail 4, tarsus 0-5. 



Adult female. Very similar to the male in colour, and having, when old, the same rufesceut tint on the 

 breast, but generally rather paler below, and having a somewhat shorter tail. Total length 6-6 

 inches, eulmen 0'35, wing 4'65, tail 33, tarsus O'S. 



Xestling. More dusky than the adults, and not so glossy nor so purple ; rufous frontal mark very small ; 

 cheeks and throat dark rufous ; remainder of under surface clear rufescent, separated from the 

 throat by a broad black band washed with rufous. 



In the full-grown young bird the outer tail-feathers have greyish-white edges to the outer 

 webs, and there are light rufescent margins to the feathers of the lower rump and upper tail- 

 coverts. 



It is somewhat curious that the nesting birds approach the very old birds in their coloration, 

 being not only of a pronounced rufescent colour underneath, but also having some of the 

 feathers of the black collar edged with rufous. 



On leaving the nest, especially those birds of the first brood, the young Swallows lose this 

 rufescent tint rather quickly and become bleached, the forehead turning to white with exposure, 

 and the throat fading to a pale tawny buff. The upper surface of the body becomes gradually 

 browner and loses the blue altogether. 



This change of plumage generally takes place after the birds have left England ; but we have 

 seen one specimen, killed at the end of August, which had begun to assume its new ijlumage on 

 the throat, putting on the bright rufous throat of the second season. The forehead is bleached 

 to white. These changes generally take place during the Swallow's sojourn in its winter home, 

 in the months of January and February, and it is very rare to see a commencement of the change 

 in England. 



The change of plumage and the process of the winter moult have been fully described in the 

 ' Proceedings ' of the Zoological Society for 1870. The Common Swallow arrives in its winter 

 home in the same plumage in which it left in the previous spring, and, of course, by the time 

 that it reaches its winter habitat the bird's feathers are bleached and worn out. The rufous of 

 the forehead and throat becomes nearly white, and the beautiful blue colour of the back 

 turns to a dingy brown, while the wings are rusty brown. Mr. Seebohm well describes the 



