302 
BIRDS OF EEITISH BURMAH. 
Section OSCINES LATIEOSTBES. 
Family HIRUNDINIDJE. 
Genus HIRUNDO, Linn. 
286. HIEUNDO RUSTICA. 
THE COMMON SWALLOW. 
Hirundo rustica, Limi. Syst. Nat. i. p. 343 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 157 ; Hume, Nests 
and Eggs, p. 72 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 126 ; Dresser, Birds Eur. iii. p. 477, pi. ; 
Hume, S. F. iii. p. 41 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 649 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, 
p. 587 ; Hume, 8.F. viii. p. 84 j Oates, S. F. x. p. 183. Hirundo gutturalis, 
Scopoli, Del. Fl. et Faun. Insuh. ii. p. 96 ; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 125 ; David et 
Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 124 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 41. 
Description. — Male. roreliead_, chin and throat deep ferruginous ; whole 
upper plumage, wing-coTerts_, sides of the head and neck and a broad 
band across the chest steely black; wings and tail brown, with a greenish 
or bluish gloss ; the latter with a white spot on the inner webs of all but 
the central pair of feathers ; under surface of plumage varying from white 
tinged with pink to pale salmon-colour according to the time of the year, 
the colour being brightest after the spring moult. 
The female is usually a little paler on the under surface, and the outer 
tail-feathers are shorter. 
In the nestling the forehead, chin and throat are very pale rufous ; the 
upper plumage and chest-band brownish black, with a little gloss. During 
the winter the rufous of the forehead and throat fade to white, the crown 
of the head wears away to dull brown, and the lustre on the upper plumage 
and wings gets worn away a good deal. In the spring the young birds 
moult into full adult plumage. 
In what appear to be very old birds the ferruginous of the throat 
descends more or less on to the pectoral band. 
Bill and legs black ; iris brown. 
Length 7'5 inches; tail 4'2, forked to the extent of 2*6; wing 4*8; 
tarsus '4 ; bill from gape '6. 
The question of the distinctness of the eastern and western forms of the 
Common Swallow has been discussed at some length by various authors. 
In my opinion they cannot be separated. The western bird is rather larger 
perhaps, on the whole, and the pectoral band is better defined ; whereas 
the eastern bird averages rather smaller, and the centre of the pectoral 
band is commonly mixed up with rufous, but not to such an extent as to 
cause the band ever to be quite interrupted in the middle. 
The Common Swallow is found abundantly over the whole of British 
