HIRUNDO SEMIRUFA, shmd. 



BED-BREASTED SWALLOW. 



Hinmdo semirufa, Sundev. (Efv. K. Vet.-Akad. Eorh. Stockh. 1850, p. 107 ; Sharpe, 

 Ibis, 1869, p. 188 ; Ayres, t. c. p. 290 ; Gray, Hand-1. B. i. p. 69, no. 802 (1869) ; 

 Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 317 ; id. Cat. Afr. B. p. 46 (1871) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1880, 

 p. 260 ; Sharpe, in Oates's Matabele Land, App. p. 312 ; id. ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. 

 p. 370, pi. is. fig. 1 (1882) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 200 ; Ayres, Ibis, 1884, p. 227 ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mns. x. p. 167 (1885). 



H. uropygio rufo ; pileo dorso concolore ; subtus unicolor, baud striata ; gula alba. 

 Hub. in Africa meridionali. 



Adult. Above dark blue, inclining to indigo ; rump cbestnut ; upper tail-coverts dark blue ; wing-coverts 

 like tbe back, tbe inner greater coverts fulvous on their inner web, forming a spot ; quills black , 

 brownish underneath, glossed above with dark blue ; tail black, glossed with blue above, every 

 feather, except the two centre ones, having a very large white spot on the inner web ; space 

 between the bill and the eye velvety black ; cheeks and ear-coverts deep blue-black ; entire under 

 surface chestnut, very deep on tbe flanks and abdomen, the under tail-coverts paler rufous- 

 buff; under wing-coverts isabelline buff; edge of wing fulvous mottled with black : "bill black ; 

 legs dusky; iris dusky" (T. Ayres). Total length 8"8 inches, culmen 07, wing 5\2, tail 5 - 3, 

 tarsus - 55. 



Mr. Gurney describes a supposed immature specimen as being " paler rufous below, with the upper surface 

 brownish black instead of dark blue with a metallic lustre as in the old bird." This description 

 better suits the worn breeding-dress of the adult than that of the immature bird, which ought to 

 show rufous tips to tbe inner secondaries. 



Hub. South Africa; from Natal through the Transvaal and Matabele country to Mashoona Land. 



This is a large species, entirely confined to the southern province of the Ethiopian Region. 

 In the ' Catalogue' we were inclined to separate the present bird from the West-African 

 JS. gordoni on account of the paler under tail-coverts ; but a further examination of the 

 series in the British Museum and in Capt. Shelley's collection convinces us that this 

 character is not a constant one, and there is scarcely any specific difference between these 

 two Swallows. H. semirufa is merely a large deeply-coloured race of the West-African 

 species with a perceptibly longer wing ; but both in intensity of coloration and in size the 

 Congo and Gaboon specimens of H. gordoni are intermediate. In Natal and Transvaal 

 examples the wing measures 4 - 95-5 - 25 inches, a Congo specimen (immature) 45, a 



