393. Hirundo rufula

393. RED-RUMPED SWALLOW.
HIRUNDO RUFULA.
Hirundo rufula, Temm. Man. iii. p. 298 (1835) ; Naum. xiii. p. 209, Taf. 383, fig. 4 ; Dresser, iii. p. 487, pl. 161 ; Gould, B. of Asia, i. pl. 27 ; Sharpe, Oat. B. Br. Mus. x. p. 156 ; Oates, F. Brit. Ind. Birds, ii. p. 284 ; H. scullii, Seebohm, Ibis, 1883, p. 167 ; Sharpe, tom. cit. p. 158.
Hirondelle rousseline, French ; Rondine forestiera, Ital. ; Alpen-Schwalbe German.
Male ad. (Asia Minor). Crown, back, and scapulars deep black glossed-with steel-blue ; nape, hind neck, sides of the neck and rump rusty red, the last paling almost to white on the shorter tail-coverts ; wings, tail, and longer tail-coverts black, slightly glossed with steel-blue ; under parts white washed with pale rufous buff on the breast, flanks, and abdomen, the whole under parts very finely streaked with black ; bill blackish ; legs dark brown ; iris blackish brown. Culmen 0.32, wing 4.8, tail 4.15, tarsus 0.55 inch. Sexes alike.
Hab. Southern Europe as far west as Italy and Sicily, ranging east through Asia Minor and Palestine to Persia, Afghanistan, and Turkestan. In winter it occurs as far south as Abyssinia, and it has strayed on one occasion at least as far north as Heligoland, and has occurred in Malta.
In habits it much resembles H. rustica, and like that species captures its insect food almost entirely on the wing. Its note is said to differ slightly from that of the Common Swallow, and it differs widely in its mode of nidification, for it constructs a retort-shaped nest of mud with a funnel-shaped entrance, and lines it with grass and feathers. The nest is attached to the under side of the roof of a cave or vault, and this species never nests in colonies, but singly. It breeds commonly in South-east Europe and Palestine. The eggs, from 4 to 5 in number, are pure white, unspotted, and measure about 0.80 by 0.55.