HIRUNBIN^. HIRUNDO. 
75 
Swallows ; and as various degrees of emargination on the 
one hand, or of cuneation on the other, are observed in 
many genera, so may it be with Swallows. Wherefore, it 
is not expedient to consider every little modification of the 
tail, or of the covering of the feet, as indicative of a generic 
difference. Our three British Swallows are nearly enough 
allied to be placed in one genus. They all hunt in the same 
manner, but differ in their mode of nestling. 
33. Hirundo rustica. Bed-fronted or Chimney Swal- 
low. 
Upper parts glossy steel-blue ; forehead and throat brown- 
ish-red ; a broad band on the fore-neck dusky ; tail very deeply 
forked, each feather, the two middle excepted, with a white 
spot on the inner web ; breast and abdomen reddish-white. 
The young have the tail shorter, the plumage less glossy, the 
forehead and throat dull pale brown. 
Male, 8|, 14, 4|f, Female, 7|^ 14.^ 
Generally distributed in Britain and Ireland, arriving from 
the tenth of April to the fifth of May, and departing early in 
October. The nest is placed under the eaves of out-houses, 
on beams or rafters within them, on the face of rocks, in 
quarries, or on the sides of wells, or the shafts of old coal-pits, 
and is formed of mud, with a lining of grass and feathers, its 
form being half-cup-shaped, or on a fiat surface entirely so, 
always widely open above. The eggs, four or five, elongated, 
ten-twelfths in length, seven-twelfths in breadth, white or 
reddish -white, marked with dark-red dots and specks. Two 
broods are sometimes reared in the season. 
Swallow. Common Swallow. 
Hirundo rustica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 343. — Hirundo rustica, 
Temm. Man. d’Ornith. i. 427. — Hirundo rustica. Bed-fronted 
or Chimney Swallow, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, iii. 558. 
34. Hirundo Urbica. White-rumped or Window 
Swallow. 
Head, hind neck, and fore part of the back glossy steel- 
blue ; rump and lower parts white ; tail deeply forked, the 
feathers plain ; the tarsi and toes feathered. The young dif- 
fer from the adult chiefly in having the dark parts of the 
plumage duller, and tinged with brown. 
Male, 5y®5-, 12, 4-J, y^^, y®^.^ 
Generally distributed in Britain and Ireland, arriving 
