300 SWALLOW. 



vent, where the shafts of the feathers are blackish ; tail very forked, 

 the outer feather exceeding the middle ones by more than one inch 

 and a quarter, and all but the two middle ones marked with a white 

 spot on the inner web ; legs dusky. 



The female has the whole top of the head, including the eyes, 

 and the nape behind deep rufous, with a mixture of black ; the rest 

 of the neck, back, and wing coverts, blue black ; rump rufous, 

 bordered below with white; quills brown, edged with lighter brown ; 

 throat brown, mixed with white, the rest of the under parts yellowish 

 white, with perpendicular blackish streaks : tail as in the male. 



Inhabits the Cape of Good Hope, passing the summer there, as 

 also Africa throughout; is a familiar bird, entering houses, especially 

 those of the Colonists of the interior, who are content with the dirt 

 it occasions, supposing its presence of good omen. 



The nest is made on a beam, next the cieling, with mud, as ours 

 in Europe, but differing in shape, being like a hollow bowl with a 

 long neck, through which the female passes to the inner part, which 

 is lined with thick down, or other tender substance ; the eggs six, 

 white, dotted with brown ; the hen sits sixteen or eighteen days. 



One of the above, in the collection of Mr. Salt, had the streaks 

 beneath broad, not mere lines as in the PI. enlum.. Shot at Chelicut, 

 in Abyssinia. 



22.— JAVAN SWALLOW. 



Hirundo Javanica, Ind. Orn. Sup. lviii. Mus. Carls, iv. t. 100. 

 Javan Sparrow, Gen. Syn. Sup. ii. 259. Shaw's Zool. x. p. 101. 



SOMEWHAT less than the Chimney Swallow. Bill flat, 

 pointed, black ; nostrils oval ; gape wide ; tongue bifid ; body above 

 bluish black, glossy ; forehead, throat, and fore part of the neck, 

 ferruginous; breast, belly, rump, and under part of the wing, pale 

 ash-colour; quills black; tail even at the end, the two middle 



