HIETJNDO EEYTHEOPTGIA*. 
(THE LESSEE MOSaUE-SWALLQW.) 
Hh'unclo erythropygia, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 83; Jerdon, Madr. Journ. 1840, xi. p. 237 ; 
Adam, Str. Peath. 1873, p. 370; Aitken, ibid. 1875, p. 212 ;] Butler, t. c. p. 451; 
Cripps, ibid, 1878, vol. vii. p. 257. 
Hirundo daicrica, Blytb, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 198 (1849, in part) ; Layard and Kelaart, 
Prodromus, Appendix, Cat. p. 58 (1853); Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. 
i. p. 92 (1854, in part); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 170; Jerdon, 
B. of Ind. i. p. 160 (1862, in part) ; Holdsvv. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 419. 
Cecropis erytliropygia^ Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, p. 352. 
IMlia erythropygia, Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 76 (1873) ; id. Str. Feath. 1877, p. 255. 
The Bed-rumped Swallow, Jerdon. Masjid abahil, lit. “ Mosque-Swallow,” Hind. 
Adult male and female. (Specimens in. the British Musuem.) Wing 4'4 to 4-5 inches ; tail 3'0 to 3'3, centre 
feathers I'l to 1’4 shorter ; tarsus 0‘5 ; middle toe without claw 0‘48 ; bill to gape 0'6 to 0'55. Females seem to 
be shorter in the tail than males. 
Mr. Hume, in his valuable mongraphic notice of the subgenus Lillia, gives the length at from 6’5 to 7'0, average 
6’75 inches ; wing from 4'1 to 4-5. Weight 0'62 oz. {Cripps). 
Iris brown ; bill, legs, and feet black. 
Head, nape, hind neck, back, scapulars, lesser wing-coverts, and longer under tail-coverts glossy blue-black ; greater 
wing-coverts, primaries, secondaries, and tail-feathers brownish black, glossed chiefly on the outer webs with 
greenish ; a superloral streak passing above the eye, spreading out over the ear-coverts, and running thence 
beneath the nape dark ferruginous chestnut ; rump and shorter upper tail-coverts paler chestnut than the cheeks, 
forming a band about | inch or more wide ; in some specimens there are a few black-shafted feathers among the 
upper tail-coverts ; a black spot immediately in front of the eye, between which and the bill the lores ai’e whitish; 
entire under surface, with the under wdng- and under tail-coverts, bulfy white, palest on the throat, and most 
strongly washed with buff on the flanks, each feather, except on the belly, w ith a fine brown shaft-streak ; 
terminal portion of the under tail-coverts black. 
young. A specimen from Behar has the inner secondaries tipped with rufoscent, and is very strongly tinged with 
buff on the flanks and under wing-coverts. Auother from the Godaveri liiver has the chestnut colour of the 
cheeks and ear-coverts of less extent and very pale ; inner secondaries tipped with bulfy white ; stripes of the 
under surface bolder than in the adult ; chestnut rump-band very pale, and with one or two darh stripes ; a pale 
spot on the inner web of the outer tail-feathers. 
The just-flown nestling, according to Mr. Hume, has hardly any trace of striations. 
Ohs. This Swallow' was confounded by Layard with the larger northern form, H. daurica, Linn., =77. alpestris, Pallas, 
a 2 nid Hume, or rather with some one or other of the Himalayan birds, w'hich were then considered identical with 
the Central-Asian species. Specimens of 11. alpestns from Mongolia, Assam, and other parts of Central Asia, 
w hich I have examined, have the wing 4-8 to 5’ 1 inches and the tail 4'1 to 4’6 ; the striations of the under surface 
are bolder and the uropygial band wider than in H. erythropygia, and streaked in some specimens with dark 
shaft-stripes ; a whitish spot on the inner w'eb of the outer tail-feathers is present in some skins. 
H. nip>alensis belongs to this group, with the well-marked striations on the under surface. AViug 4-6 to 4-8 inches ; 
no white on tail ; wings and tail brown ; rump-band O’S to 1-0 ; ears dingy yellowish white or pale dingy rufes- 
cent, densely striated with dusky. Its larger size and bolder striations distinguish it, too, from the subject of the 
present article. 
* This species and its allies are placed by some in the subgenus Lillia, characterized by the rufous or pale underparts 
either striated or unstriated, and by the rufous rump-band striated in most. 
