Ilinindo erytUropijgia (nee Sykes), Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 47, note. 

 Hirundo scullii, Seebolim, Ibis, 1883, p. 168 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. x. 

 p. 158 (1885). 



H. uropygio riifo, postice albicante, fasciam exhibeiite ; pileo dorsoque concoloribus : torque cervicali 

 rufa. 



Hab. iu subregione Mediterraneo-Pcrsica usque ad montes Himalayenses et Asiam Centralem. 



Adult male. General colour above glossy purplish blue, witli white streaks on the back where the white 

 bases to the feathers show through ; wing-covcrts like the back ; bastard-wing feathers, 

 primary-coverts, and quills blackish, externally washed with dull steel-blue ; rump pale cinnamon- 

 rufous, verging into creamy white on the upper tail-coverts, the longer ones of which are purplish 

 blue with pale cinnamon-buff bases ; tail-feathers blackish glossed with dull blue; crown of head 

 purplish blue, forming a cap, which is separated from the mantle by the cinnamon-coloured sides 

 of the neck, which converge from behind the eye to the nape, where they form a collar; base of 

 forehead and a narrow line over the eye cinnamon-rufous ; cheeks and ear-coverts pale sandy 

 buff', tiie lores mixed with dusky plumes ; entire under surface of body pale cinnamon-buff, a 

 little deeper on the fore neck, breast, and flanks ; the throat very minutely, and the rest of the 

 body a little more distinctly, striated with narrow dusky shaft-lines ; sides of upper breast purpbsh 

 blue ; thighs and under tail-coverts creamy whitish, the longer coverts blue-black with creamy 

 white bases ; axillaries and under wing-coverts pale sandy buff, the coverts near the edge of the 

 wing with blackish shaft-lines ; quiils dusky below^ paler along the edge of the inner web. Total 

 length /'S inches, culmen 0-35, wing ^"S, tail 4'15, tarsus O'o. 



Adult female. Exactly like the male in colour. Total length 7'5 inches, culmen 0-35, wing 4-7, 

 tail 3'85, tarsus O'oo. 



0/av. In many specimens the crown of the head appears as if connected with the mantle by a few purplish- 

 blue feathers; this is, however, due to the faulty preparation of the skin, as in properly preserved 

 examples the collar on the hind neck is perfect. We have seen only one young bird which has 

 also this partial connexion between the crown and mantle, but we do not consider it to be simply 

 a sign of immaturity ; for in fact many of the young birds have as well marked a collar as the 

 finest of the adults. 



Young. Much duller in colour than the adult, being blackish glossed with steel-blue, tlie rufous colour 

 on the neck and rump very much paler ; wing-coverts and secondaries tipped with pale rufous ; 

 beneath paler than in the adult, the throat and abdomen whitish, the fore neck rufescent ; the 

 throat and breast with tolerably distiuct dusky shaft-lines ; axillaries and under wing-coverts 

 pale cinnamon, rather deeper than in the adult. Total length 6'8 inches, wing 4'8, tail 3'2, 

 tarsus 0'53. 



The race which Mr. Seebohm separated as H. scullii from Nepal differs in no respect from true 

 H. riifula except by its smaller size, a distinction which seems to be fairly constant, Init one 

 which we now hardly think requires the separation of the eastern birds under a subspccific title. 

 The following are the measurements of the wing iu the series in the British Museum, and we 



