and Afzelius in 1798, sm the Swallow, on the" river Senegal
and at Sierra Leone in that period of the year when it is
absent from Europe. Mr. Tudsbüry, of Chesterfield, who
resided at Sierra -Leone and Rio Nunez from 1821 to 1828,
says, the Swallow, the Martin, and the Swift, are seen all the
year in the neighbourhood of these two places ; but that they
are less numerous in the rainy season from June to v September.—
Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 449. To this I may' add*
that Mr. George Don told me:he saw the Swallow, 'thé-Martin,
and the Swift, at the Island of St.. Thomas, on the equator,
in the months ;of January and February in 1822.
In the adult male the beak is black, the ridge, elevated, the.
gape wide; hides hazel; .forehead chestnut; head, ribck, back,
wing-coverts, -.tertials, rump, and upper, taiteè&vérts, shining
steel blue ; primary and ■secondary quill-feath ers~: 5ull ybfabk ;
tail very mudb. forked, the-auter feather on each side aslong
again as the others, and nearly black, with an elongated patch
of white on the inner web, commencing near the/fiase, and
terminating a little short of the end. of Hhe^econd feathery
which, with theiJhrefiirtaiLfeathers h e it > mSuueessidn, have
each a rounded: white patch on the inner tfeb, and each* also,
decrease in length ;- the two middle tail-feathers/ arë the
shortest of the whole, also dull black, and have no/white on
either web. The chin and throat are chestnut, below that a
bluish black band which terminates in a afraight line racrcp' a
littlehelow;thê;bend nfrthé wing’; breast, under wing-coverts,
belly, and underdtail-coverts, buffy white:;* legs and -toes
slender and black; claws sharp arid hlack.
Whole length eight inches and a half, of which the very
elongated outside tail-feathers riaeasure nearly five inches.;
the wings long and pointed, reaching beyond the énd of the
second tail-feather; from the carpal joint to thèsemd'bf the
wing five inches; the first arid second quilLfeathers nearly
equal in length, but the first rather the longer of the two.
The female has a smaller chestnut-coloured spot on the
forehead; the' dark, band across the breast is narrower; the
under surface of.the body is less tinged with buff; the upper
part of the body not so fine inLctolour, and the outside tail-
feathers .ax,e shorter., „
The young of the year fiave.no chestnut colour on the forehead;
the throat is merely( tinged with rufous; the band
Sc^oss the throat isibut faintly indicated; the first set of tail-
feathers are nearly- square/at the end, without white spots on
the webs. . »Threl long, tail-feathers, are. not acquired till the
first mouIit*Ff
•i White and buff-coloured varieties are not uncommon.