Descriptive List of the Common Birds 
spots on the tail. Lower plumage dark brown, 
paler on the breast. The most dull-coloured 
of the swallows. It builds a nest like that of 
the common martin—a saucer of mud stuck 
on to some vertical surface, usually a cliff or 
the wall of a cave. 
88. Hirundo rustica : The Common Swallow 
(F. 813), (J. 82), (I, but with a deeply forked 
tail 4% inches in length.) 
Upper plumage glossy steel blue, wings and 
tail black ; some white in tail. Lower plumage 
reddish yellow; forehead, chin, and throat 
chestnut red. 
89. Hirundo smithti: The Wire-tailed 
Swallow. (F. 818), (J. 84), (-I, with the 
two outer feathers of the tail, the ends of 
which look like wires, 7 inches in length.) 
Head chestnut, upper plumage glossy steel 
blue, lower plumage pure white. 
Not found in Madras or east of the U. P. 
Builds cup-shaped nest of mud, usually under 
a bridge or culvert ; sometimes in a verandah. 
Eggs white with small red splashes. 
90. Hirundo erythropygia: Sykes’s Striated 
Swallow, or the Red-rumped Swallow. (F. 
823), (JJ. 85), (— 1, with a forked tail over 3 inches 
in length.) 
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