always be seen seated upon twigs and trunks of trees rising to some lieiglit above the 

 water, whence they hunt after flies and other insects, returning after a sliort flight to 

 the same spot, where in small cavities their nests can be found." 



Specimens are in the British Museum from the Ancobra River, obtained by Capts. 

 Burton and Cameron, from the river Prah, presented by Mr. Godfrey Lagden, and from 

 the neighbourhood of Axim, where they were procured by Mr. Swanzy's collectors. Its 

 distribution on the upper Gold Coast seems to be, tlierefore, considerable. Dr. de Roche- 

 brune states that it is decidedly rare in the Senegambian region, as it was only found by 

 him at Kita, Bakel, on the banks of the Faleme, Bakoy, and Baling rivers, at Fonta- 

 kouro and in the interior of Gangaran, localities said by him to be not far from the river 

 Niger. On the last-named river it was discovered originally by Capt. Allen during the 

 ill-fated Niger Exj)edition ; the late Mr. W. A. Eorbes also saw it about 200 miles up 

 the Niger, and he alludes to the Swallow he met with as " Atticora fasciata (?)," meaning, 

 no doubt, that it was a Swallow like A. fasciata, which he had not long before seen in 

 Brazil. No specimens were procured by him, but he can have referred only to the 

 present bii'd. Dr. Reichenow obtained it on the Cameroon and Wuri rivers. Specimens 

 from Gaboon are in the British Museum, and M. DuChaillu procured the species 

 on the Ogowe Eiver ; M. Marche likewise met with it on the Upper Ogowe at Lake 

 Sile, in December 1875, and at Lope in February of the following year. It extends as 

 far south as the Congo, where M. Petit obtained specimens. 



Tlie following account of the species in the Cameroons has been published by 

 Dr. Beichenow : — " This Swallow seems to be confined to the rivers, over the waters of 

 which it chases its prey, resting on floating trunks or projecting stumps of trees, on the 

 latter of which it builds its nest. Wherever we found old tree-stumps standing in the 

 river, there we invariably saw this Swallow, and wherever there were none, the Swallow 

 was also absent. The nests exactly resembled in form those of our Chimney-Swallow, 

 and were fixed to the trees a few feet above the water, in such a manner that they are 

 protected above by a knot or the stump of a l)ranch. The interior was lined wdth some 

 stems of grass, and two or three eggs constituted the sitting ; the latter agreed with 

 those of our Chimney-Swallow in the colouring, being sj)otted with browu and violet on 

 a white ground, and were 0'65 inch long by 0"5 inch broad. 



At one time we considered that this Swallow differed generically from the other 

 members of the genus Rirundo ; but the form of the tail and style of coloration are so 

 variable in the latter genus, that every gradation seems to occur between typical 

 H. rustica and the aberrant species, such as K. nUjrita, H. smithii, and others ; so that 

 we now prefer to keep all the fork-tailed Swallows under one generic heading. 



The descriptions are copied from the ' Catalogue of Birds,' and are taken from 

 specimens in the British Museum. Tlie figure in the Plate is drawn from an example 

 in the collection of Capt. Wardlaw Ptamsay. 



