PSALIDOPROCNE ALBICEPS, Sctoter. 



WHITE-HEADED ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW. 



Psalkloprocne albiceps, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 108, pi. xiv. ; Heugl. Om. N.O.-Afr. 



p. 147 (1869) ; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 291 ; id. Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. x. p. 206 



(1885) ; Shelley, P. Z. S. 18S8, p. 40. 

 Psalkloprocne obsctira? (nee Teinni.), Heugl. Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 14S (1869). 

 Atticora albiceps, Gray, Hand-1. B. i. p. 73, no. 862 (1879) ; Einsch & Hartl. Vog. 



Ostafr. p. 133 (1869). 



P. viridi-nigricans : pileo gulaque albis. 

 Hab. in Africa sequatoriali. 



Adult male. General colour above sooty black glossed with olive-green ; wing-coverts like the back ; 

 quills and tail blackish, externally glossed with olive-green ; crown of head white as far as the 

 nape ; lores, eyelid, feathers behind the eye, and ear-coverts sooty black ; cheeks and feathers 

 below the eye white, extending over the fore part of the ear-coverts ; entire throat white ; 

 remainder of under surface of body sooty black with an olive-green gloss ; under wing-coverts 

 and axillaries light smoky brown ; quills below dusky brown, somewhat lighter along the inner 

 edge. Total length 6 inches, culmen O2o, wing -i'2, tail 2 - 9, tarsus 035. 



Adult female. Similar to the male in colour, but wanting the saw-like edge to the first primary. Total 

 length 5 - 4 inches, culmen 0'25, wing 3 - 85, tail 2"4, tarsus 0'35. 



Young male. Like the adults, but has the head and throat sooty black, slightly mixed with a few white 

 feathers. 



Hab. Equatorial Africa, from Usui to Wadelai. 



Colonel Grant discovered the present species during his celebrated expedition with 

 Captain Speke through Equatorial Africa. In his journal he has the following note, 

 with which he has favoured us : — " Usui, Central Africa, Oct. 16, 1861. Black Swallow 

 with white forehead and throat under the jaw, with forked tail. Black Swallow, smaller. 

 Seen together about scarped rocks ; at least it was here that I first observed them." One 

 specimen was brought home in spirits, and was described by Dr. Sclater, and figured in 

 the ' Proceedings ' of the Zoological Society ; it was afterwards presented to the British 

 Museum, and it is much to be regretted that it was not immediately preserved as a skin. 

 In 1870, when we were Arriting on African Swallows, the specimen could not be found; 

 but on the removal and re-arrangement of the national collections at South Kensington, 

 we discovered the specimen in its original bottle of spirits, but too much deteriorated to 



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