JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



FEBRUARY, 1847. 



Notices and Descriptions of various New or Little Known Species of 

 Birds. By Ed. Blyth, Curator of the Asiatic Society's Museum. 



[Continued from p. 313, ante.] 



Hirundo, Lin. The following are the Indian Swallows hitherto 

 ascertained. 



J. H. rustica, Lin. This I have only seen from Nepal.* 

 2. H. gutturalis, Scopoli : H. panayana, Lath. ; H. Javanica, 

 Sparrman ; H. jewan, Sykes. The most common species of India 

 generally, and of the Malay countries. Fine specimens only differ 

 from the last in their smaller size. By far the finest which I have seen, is 

 one in Dr. Cantor's collection from the Malayan Peninsula ; the outer 

 tail-feathers of which exceed the next by two inches and a half; but the 

 wing measures only four inches and three-eighths, or less than in 

 either of eight specimens, young and old, from Nepal and England, 

 now before me of H. rustica. 



* During a recent excursion to the Midnapore jungles, I procured a single specimen 

 of H. rustica, in company with H. gutturalis and H. daurica ; the last named species 

 much predominating, conformably with Mr. Jerdon's observation of its haunts. Upon 

 quitting the river alluvium, a marked change in the zoology of the country became 

 at once apparent. Pycnonotus flavirictus (the Criniger Tickelli, nobis, xiv, 571,) ap- 

 peared in abundance ; and the common Bengal Lark ( Alauda gulgula) was no more 

 seen or heard over the paddy-fields, while Mirafra assamica became replaced by 

 M. affinis. In the jungles, Palceornis torquatus was completely replaced by 



No. II. New Series. r 



