Adult male in breeding plumage. General colour above glossy purplish blue, the mantle slightly varied
with white bases to the feathers; on the sides of the lower back a tuft of silky-white plumes,
some of which are edged with black; lesser aud median wing-coverts like the back; greater
coverts, bastard-wing, primary-coverts, aud quills black, externally glossed with purplish bine,
with somewhat of a steel-green appearance on some of the feathers; tail-feathers blackish,
washed with steel-green, all but the centre feathers with a large rounded spot of creamy white on
the inner web, becoming longer and more oblique ou the outer feathers; head like the back, the
nape varied with white bases to the fe athers; forehead deep rufous ; lores deep black; ear-coverts
and feathers below the eye purplish b lu e ; cheeks aud throat deep rufous, separated from the
breast by a broad collar of glossy purplish blue, slightly interspersed with a few rufous bars on
the centre of the collar ; fore neck and remainder of under surface pale rufous buff, a little deeper
on the vent aud under tail-coverts, the longest of the latter with a terminal spot of black, represented
ou some of the others by a blackish shaft-liue; axillaries and under wing-coverts like tiie
breast, tbe former a little deeper in colour; quills blackish below: bill black; feet black; iris
dark brown. Total length 7 3 inclies, culmen 0'35, wiug 5‘05, tail 4, tarsus O’o.
Adult female. Very similar to the male in colour, and having, when old, the same rufescent tin t on the
hrcast, but generally rather paler below, aud having a somewhat shorter tail. Total length 6-6
inches, culmen 0 ‘35, wing 4-65, tail 3'3, tarsus 0-5.
Xesiling. ¡More dusky than the adults, and not so glossy nor so purple ; rufous froutal mark very small;
cheeks and throat dark ru fo u s ; remainder of under surface clear rufescent, separated from the
throat by a broad black band washed with rufous.
Iu the full-growu young bird the outer tail-feathers have greyish-white edges to the outer
webs, and there are light rufescent margins to the feathers of the lower rump and upper tail-
covcrts.
I t is somewhat curious that the nesting birds approach the very old birds in their coloration,
being not only of a pronounced rufescent colour underneath, but also having some of the
feathers of the black collar edged with rufous.
On leaving the nest, especially those birds of the first brood, the young Swallows lose this
rufescent tin t rather quickly and become bleached, the forehead turning to white with exposure,
and tbe throat fading to a pale tawny buff. The upper surface of the body becomes gradually
browner and loses the blue altogether.
This change of plumage generally takes place after the birds have left England ; but we have
seen one specimen, killed at the end of August, wliich had begun to assume its new plumage ou
the throat, putting on the bright rufous throat of the second season. The forehead is bleached
to white. These changes generally take place during the Swallow’s sojourn iu its winter home,
iu the months of January and February, and it is very rare to see a commencement of the change
in England.
The change of plumage and the process of the winter moult have been fully described in the
‘ Proceedings ’ of the Zoological Society for 1870. The Common Swallow arrives in its winter
home ill the same plumage in which it left in the previous spring, and, of com-se, by the time
that it reaches its winter habitat the bird’s feathers are bleached and worn out. The rufous of
the forehead and throat becomes nearly white, and the beautiful blue colour of the back
turns to a dingy brown, while the wings are rusty brown. Mr. Seebohm well describes the
plumage of the Swallow as he saw it in Na taL—"O n r Swallow, as probahly evcrj-
other speeies of Ilirnndinitla!, only moults oneo in the year. After liaving migi-ated six or
seven Ihonsaml miles to their breeiiing-gronnil.s, spent nearly six months in the stormy summer
of Northern Europe, again migrated six or seven tliousand miles hack to their wmter-qnarters,
and spent another six months during tho rainy season of Natal, it is a wonder th at tlic poor
birds liave any feathers left. Some of those which I shot had been in a lamentable condition i
the old feathers that still remained had faded to a rusty brown and were worn to shreds. Tho
plumage of the vonng birds, tbongh they had only run the gauntlet of one journey and one
snmmcr, is so much more lender than th a t ot adults, that they were in the WOI-st condition ; tho
old feathers were no better than rusty rags.”
In the 'Catalogue of Bird..,’ Dr. Sharpc lias expressed his views with regard to Hu-umlo ruslica and
the allied species, and during the eight years which havo elapsed since tlie issue of th at wort,
we find no reason to modify the conclusions therein expressed. Since the year when the tentti
volume of tho ■Catalogue’’was published, the British Ifu seum h as, through the generosity of
Mr. Allan Ilnme, Jlessrs. Osbert Salvin and F. D. Godman, and Major Wardlaw Bamsay,
become the possessor of tl.e great Ilume, Salvin-Godman, and Tweoddale collections, so th at the
material which wo liave been able to compare lias been increased nearly tenfold, and yet wo
adhere in the main to the conclusions which the ‘ Catalogue ’ professes.
Taking, therefore, II. rustica as the dominant species, it is evident from the series in tlm
British Museum that the intermediate gradation between that species and its uear allies is
complete, and the treatment of II. gutturalis, II. sarignii, H. erglkngasira, and II. hjUeri as
subspecies of H. ruslica is fully justified. Tims between II. ruslica and H. gutluralis every kind
of intermediate specimen can ho found, and tho purely western birds aro often as intormcdialo as
those found in the far East. In the Swallows, in fact, wo sec a repetition of the curious phenomenon,
recorded by Dr. Sharpc, with regard to the Starlings, Sluruus vulgaris and S. mcndiicri
(Cat. B. xiii. p. 29), iu whicli the strain of the eastern bird has strongly impregnated the western
and typical form, so that two tlioronglily distinct species possess an intermediate link winch
lessens tho status of both of them. Here we have a justification of tho rccogiiizaUe, hut clumsy,
American system of trinomial names to express a certain fact in nature.
Many ornithologists have recorded the occurrence of H. savignii in various countries of
Europe. This is a mistake. If. savignii is a resident form of H. rustica, apparently confined to
Egypt. Having ourselves seen tbe birds in that country, wc can confidently assert th a t there is
n o ’ certainty of distinguishing H. savignii on the wing from a spring-plumagcd specimen of
II. rustica, unless the eye be accustomed to the dark under surface of the Egyptian bird. The
supposed occurrence of the Egyptian Swallow in various countries of Europe, including England,
is based on error of observation, and the bird which does duty for II. savignii in these records,
and is spoken of by many of our colleagues as II. savignii or II. pagorum, is nothing but the
ordinary H. rustica in beautiful spring plumage. W c owe to the kindness of .an old friend,
Mr. Henry M’hitely, of ’Woolwicb, a specimen shot on the Plumstcad Marshes in May, which
is by far t’be nearest approach to H. sarignii of any Swallow which wc have yet seen from Great
Britain. Dr. Giglioli has endorsed our opinion witli regard to Italian and Sicilian records.
Everything seems to prove th at it is only the very old birds that have the rnfcsccnt breast in
8pring,'for wc have before us several males killed in spring-time, which arc very pale underneath
aud have perfectly defined black collars on their throats, whereas in the riifous-brcasted apcciiiicns
the centre of the black collar has rnfous bars wbicb break the continuity of the black collar, the
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