RUFOUS SWALLOW. 175 



Hirundo alpestris, Malhekbe; Faune Orn. Sicile, 



(excluding synonymes.) 

 " " Bonaparte; Intr. Faun. Ital. 



" Keyseeling et Blasius; Die 



"Wirbclthiere, No. 201, (portion.) 

 " Capensis, Dueazzo; Ucc. Lig., No. 45. 



Hirondelle Rousseline, 



rousse, or rufuline, Of the French. 



Rolhliche Sehwalbe, Of the Geemans. 



Hondine di Siberia, Savi. 



Specific Characters. — Medium size. Top of the head, back, 

 wings, and tail, black; the outer tail feathers for the most part 

 faintly spotted with white; nape rufous, not striated; rump pale 

 rufous, passing into whitish posteriorly; below the cheeks, and 

 under wing coverts, russet, with very narrow brown strise, which 

 are however absent in the anal region; the posterior half of the 

 under tail coverts black; feet moderate size. Length about seven 

 inches; closed wings four inches and four fifths; external tail 

 feathers four inches; tarsi half an inch; posterior toe (without 

 claw) six tenths of an inch; posterior claw about a quarter of an 

 inch. 



This bird has been confounded with, several others. 

 It was first noticed by Savi, in 1831, in the "Orni- 

 tologia Toscana," Appendix to vol. i., p. 201, as Hirundo 

 Daurica, Lin. — the Hondine di Siberia. It was after- 

 wards introduced as a European bird in the second 

 edition of Temminck's Manual, as identical with Hirundo 

 Capensis of Gmelin, from which however it is clearly 

 distinct. Temminck proposed for it the name of Mufula, 

 which it retained through the many scientific difficulties 

 it encountered after his time. Temminck's reasons for 

 the change of name is hardly defensible. He thought 



