HIRUNDO HYPERYTHRA, Blyth 



CEYLONESE CHESTNUT MOSQUE-SWALLOW. 



Hirundo hyperythra, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xviii. p. 814 (1849) ; id. Cat. B. Mus. As. 



Soc. p. 198 (1819) ; Kelaart, Proclr. Cat. p. 118 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. 



Nat. Hist. xii. p. 170 (1853) ; Blyth, Ibis, 1807, p. 300; Gray, Hand-1. B. i. p. 69, 



no. 798 (1869) ; Holdsw. R Z. S. 1872, p. 119 ; Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 592 (1879) ; 



Hume, Str. E. 1879, p. 81 ; Sharpe, Cat, Birds in Brit. Mus. x. p. 107 (1885). 

 Herse hyperythra, Bp. Consp. i. p. 310 (1850). 

 Cecropis hyperythra, Gould, B. Asia, i. pi. 30 (1868) ; Jerd. Ibis, 1871, p. 352 ; 



Hume, Str. E. 1877, p. 266. 



H. similis H. baditp, sed minor, et suJjtus magis distincte nigro lineata. 



Hab. in insula Ceylonensi. 



Adult. General colour above purplish blue or deep steel-blue, a little streaked on the hind neck and 

 mantle with fulvous, the feathers having a concealed fulvous edging, which becomes evident when 

 they are disarranged ; wing-coverts like the back ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills 

 blackish, externally glossed with steel-blue ; feathers of lower back steel-blue, tipped with rufous 

 like the adjoining rump and upper tail-coverts, the longest of the latter being steel-blue ; tail- 

 feathers blackish glossed with steel-blue ; crown of head like the back ; lores dusky, surmounted 

 by a narrow line of rufous from the base of the forehead, extending over the eye, and forming a 

 scarcely perceptible eyebrow ; sides of hinder crown, ear-coverts, cheeks, sides of neck, and entire 

 under surface of body deep chestnut, very plainly marked with narrow blackish shaft-lines, a 

 little broader on the ear-coverts and on the throat ; thighs and under tail-coverts chestnut, the 

 louger under tail-coverts tipped or subterminally spotted with blue, the longest entirely blue ; 

 the under wing-coverts and axillarics chestnut, with distinct blackish shaft-lines near the edge of 

 the wing; quills below dusky black : " bill deep brown, in some specimens blackish, the base of 

 the lower mandible reddish; legs and feet vinous brown; iris sepia-brown" (W. V. Leyge). 

 Total length G'4 inches, culmen 0'4, wing 4'55, tail 2'95, tarsus 055. 



Sexes alike in plumage. 



Immature birds have the hue of the under surface paler than the adults and the shaft-streaks 

 not so clear [W. V. Legge). 



Hab. Ceylon. 



The present species and its ally, H. badia, constitute quite a peculiar section of the 

 genus Hirundo, having the rufous band across the lower back and rump like the Mosque- 

 Swallows, but having at the same time a deep chestnut under surface, with little or no 

 indications of streaks. 



