Hirundo javanica Sparrman, Mus. Carls. (1789), 2, pl. 100; Sharpe,
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1885), 10, 142; Hand-List (1901), 3, 194;
Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 236 (nesting habits); Oates and Reid,
Cat. Birds' Eggs (1903), 3, 239; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List
(1906), 70.
Lai-ang' lai-ang', Manila.
Babuyan Claro (McGregor); Bantayan (McGregor); Basilan (Steere
Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Batan (McGregor); Bohol
(Everett, McGregor); Cagayan Sulu (Guillemard, McGregor);
Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Camiguin N. (McGregor);
Catanduanes (Whitehead); Cebu (Everett, McGregor); Cuyo
(McGregor); Dinagat (Everett); Guimaras (Bourns & Worcester);
Leyte (Everett); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Whitehead, Bourns &
Worcester); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester);
Mindanao (Platen, Bourns & Worcester); Mindoro (Steere Exp.,
Schmacker, McGregor); Negros (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester);
Palawan (Lempriere, Platen, Whitehead, Steere Exp., Bourns &
Worcester, White); Panay (Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (McGregor);
Samar (Steere Exp.); Sibutu (Everett); Sibuyan (McGregor);
Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Sulu (Guillemard,
Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester); Ticao
(McGregor). Southern India, Malay Peninsula, Molucca Islands,
islands of Torres Straits, New Guinea, Java, Sumatra, Borneo,
Ceylon.
Adult (sexes similar).--Lores black; entire forehead, chin, throat,
and fore breast chestnut-rufous; upper parts including wings and
tail glossy steel-blue, feathers of neck and back with white bases;
breast, abdomen, under tail-coverts, sides, and axillars ashy brown,
whitish on abdomen; longest tail-coverts with white tips and black
subterminal bars; rectrices, except middle pair, with white spots on
inner webs. Length, about 140. Male, wing, 109; tail, 53; depth of
fork, 12; bill from nostril, 7; tarsus, 9. Female, wing, 107; tail,
51; depth of fork, 7; bill from nostril, 7.
Young birds have the chin, throat, and breast much lighter, upper
parts with less gloss, and the forehead black like the crown with no
green gloss.
The Asiatic swallow is abundant and widely distributed. It makes a
crescent-shaped nest of mud which it fastens to a rock-cliff or to a
beam under a building. Three heavily incubated eggs were collected
in Bohol in July. They are white, dotted with reddish and blackish
brown, and with a few under shell-markings of lavender; they measure
17.7 by 12.4