ATTICORA PILEATA. 



GUATEMALAN SWALLOW. 



Attkora pileata, Gould, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 355 ; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 13; Baird, 

 Review Amer. B. p. 307 (1S65) ; Gray, Hand-1. B. i. p. 72, no. 860 (1869) ; Scl. 

 & Salv. Nomencl. Av. Neotr. p. 11 (1S73) ; Salv. & Godm. Biol. Centr.-Ainer., 

 Aves, i. p. 230, tab. xv. tig. 2 (1813); Sharpe, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. x. 

 p. 1S8 (18S5). 



Notiochelidon pileata, Baird, Review Amer. B. p. 306 (1865). 



A. subtus alba, menti gulsque plumis brunneo basaliter maculatis : interscapulio brunueo : pileo indi- 

 gotico-nigro : hypochondriis brunueis. 



Hub. in provincia Guatemalensi Aruericae centralis. 



Adult male. General colour above chocolate-brown on the hind neck, mantle, and back ; the scapulars, 

 lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts darker and more sooty brown ; lesser and median wing- 

 coverts blue- black; greater coverts, bastard-wing, and primary-coverts dark brown, the quills and 

 tail-feathers blackish brown j crown of head and nape blue-black ; lores and feathers round the 

 eye velvety black ; ear-coverts blackish with a slight blue gloss ; cheeks and chin blackish brown, 

 edged with white ; throat, breast, and abdomen white, the feathers on the throat and chest more 

 or less mottled with dark brown bases to the feathers ; sides of breast and flanks dark brown; 

 thighs white ; vent and under tail-coverts blackish brown ; axillaries and under wing-coverts 

 dark brown ; quills dark brown below. Total length 4 - 8 inches, culmen O2o, wing 3'7, tail 2'05, 

 tarsus 0"4. 



Adult female. Similar to the male in colour. Total length 4*8 inches, culmen 0-3, wing 3'65, tail 2\2. 

 tarsus 0"45. 



The only difference which we can detect between specimens of this species is a greater or less 

 amount of mottling on the throat, owing to the way in which the brown bases of the feathers 

 show through. This may be caused, it appears to us, by the abrasion or wearing away of the 

 white edges to the feathers. 



The males vary in length of wing from 3 - 6 to 3'75 inches, and the females from 3"65 to 3'8. 



Young. Differs from the adult in being lighter brown, the feathers of the back being tipped with rufous- 

 brown, particularly distinct on the lower back and rump ; wings and tail as in the adult ; crown 

 of head dull sooty black, with scarcely any blue gloss ; under surface of body silky white, with 

 a tawny tinge on the throat and chest, the sides of the body being rufous-brown. Wing 3-45 

 inches. 



Hab. Highlands of Guatemala, Central America. 



