Among the numerous ornithological facts, which the distinguished liberality of MM. Cuvier and Geoffroy St. Hilaire enabled us to ascertain, during a course of study at the Royal Museum of Paris, is one that relates to this species. Specimens in that noble collection, both from Pondichery and Java, enable us to affirm, that the _Psittacus Osbeckii_ and _Pondicerianus_ of authors, are one and the same species. Notwithstanding the frequency of this bird in Java, and other parts of India, we are completely ignorant of its natural history, of those diversified habits, and modes of living,--in short, of that knowledge, which gives such an animating charm to natural history, which manifests the provision of the Almighty for all His creatures, which can be known and understood by all, and which prompts the heart to contemplation and praise. Is there no one, in all our vast Oriental territory, to record something of the feathered inhabitants of the Eastern World? Is there not, throughout India, even _one_ of our countrymen, imbued with the spirit of a Wilson, a Levaillant, or an Audubon? * * * * * * [Illustration: WHITE BANDED SWALLOW. _Hirundo fasciata._] HIRUNDO fasciata. _White-banded Swallow._ ---- Family Hirundinidæ.--Sub-Fam. Hirundina. Feet slender, perching, the outer and middle toe connected at the base: bill entirely depressed. _Nob._ GENERIC CHARACTER. G. HIRUNDO.--Lesson. Man. 1, 419. ---- SPECIFIC CHARACTER. _Glossy blue black: thighs and band on the abdomen snowy._ Hirundo fasciata. _Lath. Ind. Orn. 2, 575._ L'Hirondelle a ceinture blanche. _Buffon. Pl. Enl. 724, f. 2._ White-bellied Swallow. _Lath. Gen. Syn. 4. 567._ ---- This elegant bird, although mentioned by several writers, is of great rarity. So seldom, indeed, is it seen in collections, that we never beheld a specimen prior to our visit to the Royal Museum of Paris, where our drawing was made. Buffon's description seems to have been transcribed by all succeeding writers; and the only figure hitherto published is that at Plate 724 of the Planches Enluminèes. The habits of the Swallow tribe are known to every one. Like the Flycatchers, they feed upon insects captured on the wing; but these insects are of so small a size, that they are swallowed during the flight of the bird. This at once accounts for Swallows not being provided with those stiff bristles, for confining the struggles of their prey, which are so essential to the Flycatchers. These latter birds frequently feed upon insects much too large to be swallowed at the moment of capture; they therefore hold their prey until they again perch, and swallow it when at rest. The figure is the size of life. Excepting the band on the body, and the spot on the thighs--both of which are snowy white--the whole plumage is of a deep black, richly glossed with dark blue. The first quill is longest, and the tail is deeply forked.