Order PASSERIFORMES. 
No. 86. 
Family HIRUNDIN1DA. 
HYPUROLEPIS JAVANICA. 
EASTERN SWALLOW. 
(Plate 64.) 
Hypurolepis Gould, Birds Asia, pt. xx., Vol. I., text to pi. 32, 1868. Type (by monotypy): 
Hirundo domicola—H. javanica Sparrman. 
Herse Gray, List Gen. Birds, 2nd ed., p. 11, Sept. 1841. Type (by original designation) : Hirundo 
taitensis Lesson, not Herse Oken, Lehrb. Nat., Vol. III., pt. i., p. 762, 1815. As H. taitensis 
Lesson is now proved to be quite different from Hirundo subfusca Gould, it can be put in a 
new genus Hersepis , on account of its smaller bill and feet. 
Hirundo javanica Span-man, Mus. Carlson., fasc. IV,, pi. 100,1789: Java; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. 
Mus., Vol. X., p. 142, 1885, March 9th ; id. and Wyatt, Monogr. Hirundin, pt. xv., pi. 47, 1892. 
Hirundo frontalis Quoy et Gaimard, Voy. de l’Astrol., Vol. I., p. 204, pi. 12, (pref. June 29th) 1830: 
Dorey Harbour, New Guinea. 
Hypurolepis javanica Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. VIII., p. 41, May 5th, 1920; Baker, Fauna 
Brit, lnd., Birds, Vol. III., p. 243, 1926. 
Distribution. India, southwards through the Malay Archipelago to New Guinea and Islands 
(Australia ?). 
I have given the details of the supposed occurrence of this bird in Australia, 
in my Vol. VIII., p. 41, as above. The record is too doubtful. 
Adult. Fore-head and fore-part of crown deep chestnut ; remainder of the upper-surface of the 
body, including the wing-coverts, black, glossed with violet-blue ; primaries and secondaries 
black, glossed on the outer web, and on both webs towards the tip with dull blue ; tail- 
feathers black, glossed with dull blue, the outer pairs with a large spot of white on the 
inner web ; lores black ; sides of face and ear-coverts shining blue-black ; chin and throat 
bright chestnut ; sides of neck with a patch of dark grey feathers tipped with dull blue; 
breast smoky-grey, darker on the sides of the body, each feather with an indistinct blackish 
shaft-stripe ; under tail-coverts dark smoke-grey, tipped with white, the longest feathers 
blackish margined with white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries smoky-grey, quills 
below', brow r n-ash ; eyes dark-brown ; bill black; legs and feet brownish-black. Total 
length 140 mm. : culmen 80, w ing 106, tail 50, tarsus 10. [Torres Strait (?), Queensland.] 
The sexes are ahke. 
Nest. Bound and saucer-shaped, built of mud and placed on a ledge ; lined with roots and, inside 
these, feathers. About the same size as that of gutturalis . 
Eggs. Clutch three or four, white with small spots or dots, more at the larger end, of reddish- 
brown. Average measurements: 16*8 mm. by 12*5 (16 to 18*7 by 11*9 to 13). 
Breeding-season. March, April and May. 
