HIRUNDO GORDONI, Jard. 



GORDON'S SWALLOW. 



Hirundo melanocrissa (nee Riipp.), Jard. Contr. Orn. 1S49, p. 1. 



Eirmdo gordoni, Jard. Contr. Orn. 1851, p. Ill, 1852, p. 17 ; Hartl. Orn. W.-Afr. 



p. 27 (1857) ; id. J. f. O. 1861, p. 103 ; Gray, Hand-1. B. i. p. 69, no. 799 (1869) ; 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1869, p. 188 ; id. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 317 ; id. Cat. Afr. B. p. 16 (1871) ; 



Shelley & Buckley, Ibis, 1872, p. 288 ; Ussher, Ibis, 1871, p. 63 ; Reichen. J. f. 0. 



1875, p. 21 ; Bocage, Orn. Angola, p. 182 (1881) ; De Eocliebr. Faun. Seueg., Ois. 



p. 219 (1881) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds in Brit, Mus. x. p. 16S (1885). 

 Cecropis gordoni, Cass. Proc. Philad. Acad. 1859, p. 33. 



H. similis H. semirufce, sed minor. 

 Hob. in Africa occidentali. 



Adult. Above glossy indigo-blue, duller on the wing-coverts ; quills brownish black, glossed above, 

 especially on the secondaries, with dark blue; rump sienna-rufous; upper tail-coverts dark 

 indigo ; tail brownish black, washed with dull indigo above, the inner webs of all but the six 

 central feathers -having a large white patcb ; entire under surface of body sienna-rufous, a little 

 paler on the throat, thighs, and under wing-coverts ; bill black ; feet dark brown. Total length 

 6 - 5 inches, culmen 0'35, wing 4"5, tail 4, tarsus O5o. 



Hah. West Africa, from Senegambia to Angola. 



We have already, under the heading of H. semiritfa, given our reasons for regarding 

 Gordon's Swallow as a small race of the latter species, which it represents in West 

 Africa. Its range is rather extensive, as it is found from Angola northwards to Sene- 

 gambia ; but how far it ranges in the interior, we are at present uninformed. 



In Senegambia, according to Dr. de Bochebrune, it is not common, but he records it 

 from the following localities — Gambia, Casamence, Melacoree, Zekinkior, Sedhiou, 

 Sainte-Marie, and Albreda. Mr. Buttikofer did not meet with the species in Liberia, but 

 on the Gold Coast, where it was originally obtained by Dr. Gordon. Capt. Shelley and 

 Mr. T. E. Buckley state that it was " plentiful throughout the district, and generally 

 met with in pairs perched on the top of some low bush or on the coarse grass of the 

 plains." The late Governor Ussher Avrites as follows : — " Tolerably common in the 

 eastern or Accra district of the Gold Coast, and now and then met with in the Pantee 

 districts. It is a bold handsome bird, fond of building about houses, and much resembling 

 H. rustica in its habits, especially in its low swooping flights over level open ground. It 



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