HIRUNDINID^. 



79 



Swallow with the top of the head, nape, and upper part of the 

 neck rufous; the body above bluish, beneath white, with the 

 wings and tail black ; the feathers of the latter (the two middle 

 excepted) with a white spot, the outer on each side very long 

 and filiform. 



Wire-tailed Swallow. Lath. Gen. Hist. vii. 309. p/. cxlii. 



" Inhabits India. Size of H. Rustica : beak black, 

 base of the under mandible pale : top of the head to 

 the nape, and beginning of the neck behind rufous : 

 from the gape a bluish-black streak passes beneath 

 the eye, and growing broader, unites with the lower 

 part of the neck behind, which, as also the back and 

 rump, are of the same colour ; all the under parts 

 are white : wings and tail black : the feathers of the 

 latter nearly even at the end, but the shaft of the 

 exterior one on each side is continued for three times 

 the length of the others, and perfectly filiform ; on 

 all but the two middle feathers a white spot : legs 

 black." — Latham, 



B. Cauda valde furcata. B. Tail greatly forked. 



a. Pedibus nudis. a. Legs naked. 



Sp. .12. Hi. melanoleuca. Pr. Max. Temm. PL Col 299. y: 2. 

 Hi. supra Jasciaque pectorale ccFruleo-nigra, guld ventre crissoqiie 



alhis ; alls caudaque obscure nigris. 

 Swallow with the upper parts of the plumage and band on the 



breast blue-black, with the throat, belly, and vent white ; the 



wings and tail dull black. 



Inhabits Brazil. Length five inches : all the upper 

 parts of the body, the cheeks, a broad band on the 

 upper part of the breast, and the upper tail-coverts 

 are glossy blue-black : the wings and the tail-feathers 



