PASSEEES. * 
Earn. HIRUNDINID^ *. 
Bill short, very broad at the base, triangular when viewed from above ; flattened, straight, 
the culmen gently curved at the tip, which is entire ; gape smooth and very wide. Wings long 
and pointed, the first two quills longer than the third; the secondaries very short. Tail of 12 
feathers, variable in shape and length. Legs and feet weak ; tarsus short, generally bare, and 
covered with smooth scales, in some feathered. 
Genus HIEUXDO. 
Bill typical in shape, compressed near the tip. The nostrils basal, elongated and exposed, 
placed in a depression near the culmen. Wings with the 1st quill equal to or longer than the 
2nd. Tail long and deeply forked. Tarsus equal to the middle toe, and shielded in front with 
smooth broad scutes. Middle toe much longer than the lateral ones, which are subequal ; bind 
toe moderately large. 
HIEUNDO EUSTICA. 
(THE COMMON SWALLOW.) 
llirundo rustica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 343 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat. Mus. A. S. B. p. 197 (1849) , 
Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 157 (1862) ; Sharpe & Dresser, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 244 ; Holdsw. 
P. Z. S. 1872, p. 418; Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 120 (1872) ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, i. 
p. 72 (1873) ; id. Str. Feath. 1874, p. 154 (Andamans); Salvador!, Ucc. Born. p. 125 (1874); 
Dresser, B. of Europe, pt. 39 (1875) ; Irby, B. of Gibraltar, p. 103 (1875) ; Legge, Ibis, 
1875, p. 275. 
Ilirundo 'panayana, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 1018 (1/88) ; Horsf. Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. 1. 
Co. i. p. 91 (1864). 
Hirimdo gutturalis, Scop. Delic. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. ii. p. 96 (1786); Kelaart, Prodromus, 
Cat. p. 118 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1863, xii. p. 170 ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 
1871, p. 346. 
* The Swallows are classed by Jerdon and other naturalists (A^an der Hoeven, Kaup, &c.) with the Swifts ; and, on 
account of their outward similarity to them, it is the popular belief that the two families are closely allied. No gi-eater 
error, I think, could exist, although, as Mr. Wallace pithily remarks in a letter to me on the subject, “ they constitute the most 
remarlcahle case known of outivard resemblance and real diversity!' The Swallow, in the formation of its sterninn, ^s, anc 
foot and in the structure of its wing, as also in the number of the tail-feathers, is strictly a Passerine hn ■ le wi is 
a Picariform bird in its sternum and foot, which latter is most remarkable, all the toes being either iiec e orn.wc , or 
the hind toe being reversible to the front. The bill is unlike that of a Swallow, resembling those o t e i ig J > 
Huxlev and others hold the Swallow to be Passerine in all respects ; the former, who took strong exception o w a e s y ec 
Jerdon’s antiquated notion of associating the two families, remarks (Ibis, 18G6, _p. 230) The Hirundinidm illustrate 
and exemnlifv even to the minutest detail, the special passerine type of conformation, which is merely modified ex- 
ternally to confer extraordinary vigour of wing.” The hind toe, in some of the Sand-Martins, is said to have a tendency 
to reverse ; this feature is not exemplified in the case of the two English species. 
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