PETROCHELIDON SPILODERA (Sundev.). 



SOUTH-AFRICAN CLIFF-SWALLOW. 



Sirundo spllodera, Sundev. GEfv. K. Vet.-Akad. Forh. Stockli. 1S50, p. 108 ; Gray, 



Hand-1. B. i. p. 70, no. 828 (18G9). 

 Pkedina spllodera, Bp. Bivist. Contemp., Torino, 1857, p. 4. 

 lllrundo lunlfrons, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 56 (18(57, nee Say). 

 lllrundo alfredi, Hartl. Ibis, 1868, p. 153, pi. 4 ; Layard, t. c. p. 243 ; Gray, Hand-L 



B. i. p. 71, no. 838 (1869). 

 Petrochelldon spllodera, Sharpe, F. Z. S. 1870, p. 293 ; Gurney, Ibis, 1874, p. 101 ; 



Butler, Feilden, & Beid, Zool. 1882, p. 249 ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. 



pp. 357, 839 (1881) ; id. Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. x. p. 198 (1885). 



P. fascia froutali nulla, loris et fronte basali tantum rufescentibus : subalaribus et axillaribus pallide 

 rufis concoloribus : teetricibus longioribus supracaudalibus et subcaudalibus chalybeo-nigris, 

 anguste rufo apicatis. 



Hab. in Africa meridiouali. 



Adult male. Head dark brown, obscurely glossed with greenish blue, lighter brown towards the nape ; 

 back and scapulars deep blue, the feathers edged latitudinally with ashy white, giving a striped 

 appearance to the whole back, the scapulars and wing-coverts just faintly edged with rusty 

 white ; the lower part of the back blue, not marked with whitish stripes ; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts pale rufous ; wing-coverts and quills brownish black, with a slight blue gloss on the latter 

 and on the extremities of the quills ; longer upper tail-coverts blue-black, all but the centre ones 

 rufous at their ends ; tail brownish black, also slightly glossed with blue ; a patch of feathers in 

 front of the eye pale sienna ; cheeks, ear-coverts, and sides of the neck dark blue ; throat sienna 

 and covered with little black spots, increasing in size on the lower throat; under surface of the 

 body white, washed on the upper part of the breast and on the flanks with sienna ; a few scattered 

 black spots on the chest ; under tail-coverts and vent deep sienna, some of the former entirely 

 black, and the others rufous with a blackish spot. Total length 5"9 inches, of bill from front 

 04, from gape 0'6, wing 4o, tail 2 - l, tarsus 0"5, middle toe - 45, hind toe 0"2. 



Adult female. Similar in plumage to the male. Total length 5'6 inches, wing 4*4. 



Younff. Differs from the adult in being sooty blackish with scarcely any blue gloss ; the wing-covcrts 

 like the back and narrowly edged with pale sienna, more broadly on the greater coverts and inner 

 secondaries; rump pale sienna, with which also the upper tail-coverts are broadly tipped ; quills 

 and tail-feathers blackish ; head sooty black, only slightly paler than the back ; a narrow line of 

 rufous at base of forehead and over the eye ; checks, ear-coverts, sides of face, and throat black, 

 the chin mottled with rufous white, the fore neck and chest also largely spotted with black ; 



