HIEUNDO HTPEEYIHKA*. 
(THE CEYLON SWALLOW.) 
(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 
Uirundo hyperythra (Layard), Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1849, xviii. p. 814 ; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 
p. 198 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 118 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. 
Hist. 1853, xii. p. 170; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 306 ; Gould, B. of Asia, pt. xx. (1868) ; 
Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 419 ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 13, et 1875, p. 280. 
Cecroiyis hyperythra, Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, p. 352; Hume, Str. Feath. 1877, p. 266. 
The Red-bellied Swallow, Kelaart ; The Red-breasted Swalloio. 
Wcehcelaniya, Sinhalese. 
d ad. supra purpurascenti-niger, iiiterscapulio paullo fulvo vaiio, x>lumis basaliter efc marginaliter I'ulvis : iiropygio 
Iffitc castaueo : alis caudaque cum supracaudalibiis purpurascenti-nigris : loris pileo concoloribus, infra castaneo 
variis : facie lateral! et regione parotica saturate castaneis, plumis obscur^ purpurascenti striatis : corpore subtus 
castaneo, giitture et pectore angustissima nigro striolatis : subcaudalibus longioribus, purpurascenti-nigris : sub- 
alaribus pectori concoloribus : rostro nigro ; pedibus vinascenti-brunneis : iride brunnea. 
Adult mala and female. Length 6‘5 to 6-8 inches ; wing 4'G to 4‘9 ; tail 3'1 to 3'3, centre feathers 1'4 shorter than 
the external; tarsus 0-5 to 0'6; middle toe and claw 0'6 ; bill to gape 0‘6. 
Iris sepia-brown ; bill deep brown, in some blackish, base of lower mandible reddish ; legs and feet vinous brown. 
ITead, hind neck, back, scapulars, wing-coverts, and longer upper tail-coverts glossy blue-black; the bases of the 
feathers of the back bright buffi ; wings and tail dull black, glossy near the tips of the feathers ; the inner margins 
of the primaries brown ; entire under surface, including the sides of the neck and a band from ^ to f inch wide 
across the rump, light, glossy, chestnut-red, each feather, except on the belly, vent, and rump, with a plainly defimd 
black shaft-streak ; the ear-coverts with a broader but less plainly defined blackish-brown shaft-stripe, and their 
bases black ; lower portion of loral region obscure chestnut ; longer under tail-coverts blue-black ; under wing- 
coverts paler chestnut than the breast, bases of the feathers along the edge of the wing black ; shafts of primaries 
whitish beneath, brown above. 
Youny. Immature birds have the hue of the under surface paler than adults, and the shaft-streaks not so clear. 
Ohs. This Swallow', for years after its discovery in the island, w'as considered peculiar to it. The late Lord Tweeddale 
received a red-bellied Sw'allow from Malacca, which he considered identical with ours ; and consequently H. liype- 
rythra became a Malaccan bird, and, as such, appears in Mr. lloldsworth’s excellent catalogue. Mr. Hume has, 
however, lately obtained Malaccan specimens, and finds that the peninsular bird is much larger, “ wdng 5’53 
against 4-75 to 5-0 ” (my largest specimen measures 4‘9), has a proportionately smaller bill, the chestnut rump- 
band much wider (1'2 against 0‘8), and the shafts of the earlier primaries black instead of brown ; the colouring of 
the underparts and the rump-band is likewise deeper than in our bird. I have examined a specimen in the British 
Museum, and it is clearly a good subspecies or local race of IT. kyperyihra. The upper surface is much more brilliant, 
and the deep chestnut underparts, which are devoid of striao, are at once noticeable. Mr. Hume has named it 
H. archetes (Str. Leath. 1877, p. 266), but it was previously named U. badia by Cassin (Gray, Hand-1. B. i. p. 69). 
Distribution. — This fine Swallow was discovered by Layard, who met with it in 1849 near Ambepussa. 
1 1 is widely distributed throughout all the low country, with the exception of the extreme north, where I have 
* This Swallow is often placed under the subgenus Cecropis (Boie), which was established for the reception of 
eeriain species which have the underparts streaked and often rufous, as Yvell as the head or rump, or both. I shall, 
however, retain all the Sw'allow's under the one genus, and point out the characters upon which the different subyenera 
have been founded. These have either reference to plumage or to shape of tail — the first not always, in my opinion, of 
(jenerie worth ; and the latter a character of but little value in the Swallows, for it is unaccompanied by any corre- 
sponding structural variation, such as shape of bill or wdng. 
