HIRUNDO DOMICELLA, F. $ H. 



SMALL AFRICAN MOSQUE-SWALLOW. 



Hirundo melanocrissa (non Hupp.), Hartl. Orn. W.-Afr. p. 27 (1857) ; Heugl. J. f. 0. 

 1863, p. 168 (var.). 



Hirundo domicella, Finsch & Hartl. Vog. Ostafr. p. 143 (1870) ; Heugl. Orn. N.O.- 

 Afr. i. p. 159 (1869-70) ; Sliarpe, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 315 ; id. Cat. Afr. B. p. 16 

 (1871) ; Forbes, Ibis, 1883, p. 517 ; Shelley, t. c. p. 547 ; De Rochebr. Faun. Seneg., 

 Ois. p. 219 (1881) ; Sbarpe, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. x. p. 165 (1885). 



Lillia domicella, Hume, Str. F. 1877, p. 260. 



H. pileo dorso concolore ; uropygio rufo ; subtus sericeo-alba vix fusco striolata ; subalaribus pcctori con- 

 coloribus, sericeo-albis ; ala 4'4. 



Hub. in regione yEthiopica. cis-equatoriali. 



Adult male. General colour above deep purplish blue, the mantle streaked with the white bases to the 

 feathers ; rump pale cinnamon ; wing-coverts like the back ; greater coverts, bastard-wing, 

 primary-coverts, and quills dusky brown, externally glossed with deep purple, duller on the pri- 

 maries ; upper tail-coverts purplish blue ; tail-feathers blackish, externally washed with purplish 

 blue ; crown of head like the back, from which it is separated by a collar of rich cinnamon on 

 the hind neck, interrupted in the middle ; lores blackish, surmounted by a thin line of rufous ; 

 feathers below the eye pale cinnamon, deepening towards the ear-coverts, which are deep cinnamon- 

 rufous, as also the sides of the neck ; cheeks and under surface of body silky white ; the throat, fore 

 neck, and sides of the upper breast showing thin hair-like striations, scarcely visible ; sides of body 

 slightly washed with buff, deepening on the lower flanks ; thighs silky white ; under tail-coverts 

 purplish black, those near the vent buffy white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries silky white like 

 the breast; quills below dusky, ashy along the inner edge: "iris brown" (IF. A. Forbes). 

 Total length 7 inches, culmen 035, wing 4"4, tail 1*6 (longest feather 3'7), tarsus 0"5. 



The adult female does not differ in colour from the male, but shows the narrow striations on the chest a 

 little more strongly than in the male. Total length 7 inches, culmen 0'35, wing 4'4, tail 1"6 

 (longest feather 3'45), tarsus 0'5. 



Dr. von Heuglin mentions that a young specimen in the Stuttgardt Museum collected by Schimper, 

 probably in Eastern Abyssinia, has the under surface sullied white, and marked with fine blackish 

 striai to the feathers ; these shaft-streaks are also visible on the rump. 



Hub. West Africa, from Scnegambia to the Niger ; Gazelle River in Equatorial Africa. 



This can only be regarded as a small form of H. melanocrissa of Abyssinia, as it differs 

 merely in its smaller size, rather whiter under surface, and in the nearly obsolete character 



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