255 
Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 
J 16. Hirundo gutturalis, Scop.* 
I use this name for our smaller Eastern form of H. rustica , be¬ 
cause I believe it to be the oldest applicable : the true H. javanica , 
Sparrm., seu panayana, Gmel., from Java, is, as Prof. Schlegel has 
shown me, quite a distinct bird. Our species, ranging in summer 
from Canton to Peking, Mr. Blyth assures me is identical with 
specimens procured in winter in Calcutta; hence I infer that the 
birds that visit China in spring, and uniformly leave again in 
autumn, return to hibernate in the warm plains of India. The 
summer migrations of this species extend into Siberia and 
Amoorland on the one hand, as we learn from Y. Schrenck, and 
to Japan, as far north as Hakodadi, as we learn from Capt. 
Blakiston’s collection. In summer it also visits Formosa, but 
is chiefly confined in its distribution to the S.W. It is by no 
means so common there as the following species, with which it 
never seems to keep company during the period of nidification. 
In its habits, in nest, and colour of eggs, &c., this bird entirely 
agrees with the European H. rustica; yet in size it is always 
smaller, and in minor personal features different. I think it 
therefore necessary, for the sake of geographical distribution and 
the laws of migration, not to confound them with each other. 
$. Length 8 in .; wing 4 j 7 ^ ; tail 4J, lateral feathers exceeding 
the rest by 2 inches. Bill brownish black; inside of mouth 
dark ochre-yellow. Legs and claws deep purplish brown. 
$ . Length 6 T 9 ^ in.; wing 4^; tail 3^, lateral feathers ^ 
longer. Claws and legs much lighter than in male. The pectoral 
band is browner, and the under parts brownish rufescent, instead 
of white as in the male. The axillaries are, however, darker. 
17. Hirundo daurica, L. 
H. alpestris , Pall. 
Pallas, with his usual minuteness, has well described this bird 
and its nesting peculiarities. It is found in the extreme north 
of China as a summer resident only; but in the south, where the 
winter climate is more genial, it stays all the year, roaming about 
* I fully agree with most modern naturalists in considering the Swallows 
as an extreme modification of the Muscicapidce. It is now too late, how¬ 
ever, in this paper, to place them in their proper position.—R. S, 
