HIRUNDO JAVANICA*. 



(THE BUNGALOW-SWALLOW.) 



Hirundo javanica, Sparrm. Mus. Carls, fasc. iv. 1. 100, " Java " (1789); Bourdillon, Str. Feath. 

 1876, p. 374; Fairbank, ibid. 1877, p. 392; Tweeddale, Ibis, 1877, p. 316.' 



Hirundo domicola, Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1874, xiii. p. 173 ; Blyth, Cat. B. 

 Mus. A. S. B. p. 198 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 118 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. 

 & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 170 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 384 

 (1854); Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 158 (1862); Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 336 ; Gould, B. of 

 Asia, pt. xx. pi. 13 (1868) ; Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, p. 351 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 418 ; 

 Morgan, Ibis, 1875, p. 313. 



Hypurolepsis domicola, Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 73 (1873); id. Str. Feath. 1874, p. 155. 



The Nilgherry House-Swallow, Jerdon, B. of India ; The Hill-Swallow in Ceylon. 



Wwhcelaniya, Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female. Length 4-9 to 5-0 inches ; wing 4-0 to 4-1 ; tail 1-8 ; tarsus 0-35 ; middle toe and claw 0-4 to 

 05; bill to gape 0-47 to 0*51 ; wings exceeding the tail by 0-5 when closed. 



Tail short and slightly forked. 



Iris deep brown ; bill blackish, base of lower mandible reddish ; legs and feet brown, the edges of the tarsal scales 

 whitish ; claws black. 



Head, upper surface, scapulars, and lesser wing-coverts glossy greenish black ; wings and tail black, with a slicht 

 greenish gloss ; the upper tertials tipped white ; a bar-shaped white spot on the inner webs of all the rectrices 

 but the middle pair ; lores and ear-coverts black ; forehead, chin, throat, and chest ferruginous, darker on the 

 forehead than beneath ; under surface cinereous brown, paling to whitish down the centre of the breast, the 

 adjacent feathers being tipped whitish ; under tail-coverts black, tipped white, the longer feathers glossed with 

 greenish. 



Youny. The nestling when fledged does not differ much from the adult, its chief characteristic being the unglossed 

 upper surface. The forehead is edged with pale rufous, the tertials the same ; tail with the spots smaller than 

 in the adult, and the rufous of the throat not so dark, paling to rufescent white on the breast ; under tail-coverts 

 tipped with rufescent. 



Obs. The Swallow of the Nilghiris, with which the Ceylonese bird is identical, was described by Jerdon as H. domicola, 

 but it has of late years been found that the Malayan species, H. javanica, cannot be separated from it. Lord 

 Tweeddale (' Ibis,' 1877, p. 316), in speaking of a Lampong (south-east Sumatra) specimen, says, " ISTeilgherry 

 examples {IT. domicola, Jerdon) cannot be separated." Messrs. Hume and Davison likewise consider the 

 Tenasserim birds identical with South-Indian. Jerdon, in commenting on Gould's plate (' Birds of Asia,' pt. xx.) 

 of H. domicola, remarks that it appears to be very close to the true H. javanica, but that is said to be a good deal 

 larger bird. As regards this, I have compared the Ceylonese race with specimens from Sumatra, Sarawak, Bouru, 

 Lombok, Sula Islands, East Timor, West Java, Labuan, Penang, aud find that the balance is slightly in favour 

 of the eastern race. A Sarawak example measures 4'2 inches in the wing ; a Bouru 4-35 ; a AVest-Javan 4-2 : 

 but others do not exceed my specimens ; one from Timor has a wing of 4-0 only, two from Penang 4-15. I observe, 

 however, that all these examples, except those from Labuan and Lombok, are conspicuous for the bluer tinge of the 

 upper plumage, the two exceptions mentioned being green, like the Ceylonese, all of which present the same 

 character. The outer tail-feathers also are more pointed than those of my specimens, the under tail-coverts are 

 not so dark, and the rufous on the ear-coverts is brighter. I have not had the advantage of comparing my birds 

 with a South-Indian series, and I therefore state these facts, as they may be of use to those who wish to investigate 

 the matter. In any case this could only be looked upon as an interesting local variation of no importance. 



* This Swallow has been placed in the subgenus Hypurolepsis, as differing from true Hirundo in its shorter and 

 subfurcate tail. 



