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Show 1870.] MR. R. B. SHARPE ON ETHIOPIAN HIRUNDINIDEE. 295 Genus 4. PHEDINA. Type. Phedina, Bonap. Riv. Contemp. Tor. 1857, p. 4 .. P. borbonica. Clavis specierum. a. tectricibus subcaudalibus albis medio late brunneo striatis 1. borbonica. b. tectricibus subcaudalibus fere omnino albis 2. madagascariensis. 1. PHEDINA BORBONICA. Hirondelle de Tile de Bourbon, Buff. Pl. Enl. 544. fig. 2. Wheat-Swallow, Lath. Syn. ii. pt. 2. p. 581 (1783, ex Buff.). Hirundo borbonica, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 1017 (1788, ex Buff.); Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 580* (1790); Gray, Gen. of B. i. p. 58 (1845); Schl. & Poll. Faun. Madag. Ois. p. 68(1868); Gray, Hand-1. of B. i. p. 71 (1869). Cotyle borbonica, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 342 (1850). Phedina borbonica, Bonap. Rivist. Contemp. Torin. 1857, p. 4 ; Newt. Ibis, 1861, p. 271; Maill. Notes Reun. p. 162 (1862); Newt. Ibis, 1862, p. 270, et 1863, p. 340; Coq. Alb. de la Reun. 1865, pp. 19, 20, fig. 2. Above dark greyish brown, the centres of the feathers marked down the shaft with a narrow streak of black, very distinct on the rump ; wing-coverts dark blackish brown ; quills black above, greyish underneath ; tail blackish brown above, dark brown beneath, paler on the inner web ; lores black ; cheeks, sides of the neck, and of the breast greyish brown, with darker shaft-stripes; rest of the under surface of the body white, longitudinally striped with dark brown, the upper part of the breast and flanks somewhat greyish ; bill black; feet brown. Total length 5*4 inches, of wing 4*65, tail 2. According to the late M . Coquerel, a variety of this bird is met with in Reunion; but Mr. Pollen has stated his opinion that this is but a stage of plumage of the ordinary species. The description and measurements are taken from a specimen kindly lent me by Prof. Newton. It is a male procured by his brother (Mr. Edward Newton) in the Mauritius on the 18th of June, 1862. In the 'Ibis' for 1862 the last-named gentleman states that "since the hurricane of February 1861, which lasted for six days, he did not see a single specimen of Phedina borbonica in this island. They were never very numerous." Subsequently he writes (Ibis, 1863, p. 340), "I may here mention, with reference to m y remark (Ibis, 1862, p. 270, note) that the hurricane of 1861 has not entirely exterminated this species in Mauritius, but it is certainly much rarer; for at the locality in the district of Sa-vanne, where I have observed it to be most plentiful, I remained for ten days, in June 1862, and never observed more than three at once, and as they were always at the same place, they might have been the same individuals." 2. PHEDINA MADAGASCARIENSIS. Phedina madagascariensis, Hartl. Faun. Madag. p. 27 (1861). |
