THE BIRDS OF LIBERIA 699 
Hirundo rustica lucida Verreaux. African Swallow 
Hirundo lucida Verreaux, Journ. f. Orn., vol. 6, p. 42, 1858: Senegambia, Casamanse River. 
Similar to the preceding but the upper side a more steely blue rather than the purple blue of 
rustica, the chestnut of the forehead and throat darker, the neck collar very narrow, and the white 
markings of the tail more extensive beginning 20 instead of 30 mm. from the base of the feather. 
Gambia to Stanley Falls. 
The resident Africa race of the Common Swallow may be less rare than the 
present evidence seems to indicate on account of the difficulty of distinguishing 
the two in the field. The only record is that of Biittikofer, who collected a nest 
with three half-fledged young, April 2, 1880, on an old window seat of the Dutch 
“factory”? at Monrovia, and conjectured it was of this race. The same author 
(1886, p. 248) recorded that an adult male was taken October 23 on the Mesu- 
rado River by Stampfli, but on reéxamining the specimen later he concluded 
(1889, p. 117) that it was the European form. 
Hirundo griseopyga Sundevall. Gray-rumped Swallow 
Hirundo griseopyga Sundevall, Oefv. K. Vet. Akad. Foérh., vol. 7, p. 107, 1850: Port Natal. 
Length about 6 inches; head dark grayish brown; a fine whitish eyebrow line; back and 
wings blue-black to black, rump grayish brown; tail dark grayish brown narrowly edged with 
white; below white, slightly washed with rusty. Abyssinia to Gaboon. 
A male and a female collected at Nana Kru on January 5 and 11, respec- 
tively, by Lowe (Bannerman, 1912) are the only records for Liberia. Lowe re- 
garded it as “‘not uncommon,” indicating perhaps that a considerable number 
may winter or perhaps breed in the country. 
Hirundo nigrita G. R. Gray. River Swallow; White-throated Blue Swallow 
Hirundo nigrita G. R. Gray, Genera Birds, pl. 20, 1845: Africa. 
A fork-tailed swallow, shining blue-black, with a white throat-spot, and square white marks 
on the inner vanes of all but the central tail-feathers. A small white mark at the shoulder on each 
side. Sierra Leone to Loango. 
This beautiful blue swallow is a resident species, and offers a very fine ex- 
ample of a bird limited in its distribution to a particular type of environment 
and in its abundance by the number of available localities of that type. For it 
is strictly confined to the rivers, perhaps better the smaller rivers, occurring in 
pairs, and each pair appears to range over a limited portion of the stream 
centering upon the nesting location. The latter seems to be invariably a place 
where a fallen tree has stranded in the stream in such a way that one or two large 
snags or branches project from the water but are entirely isolated from the banks 
or from surrounding vegetation or other stranded trunks. In this comparative 
security the bird attaches its cup-like nest to the protected under side of the 
leaning snag, and so no doubt escapes ants, monkeys, and many snakes. Its 
tenacity in holding to the chosen spot is noted by Buttikofer, who relates that a 
pair built three nests in the same spot in succession when the first and second 
were taken with their eggs. The first set was of four eggs, complete in the first 
week of January; the second set was of three eggs. He records that it is frequent 
