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The common house martin (''Delichon urbicum''), sometimes called the northern house martin or, particularly in Europe, just house martin, is a migratory passerine bird of the swallow family which breeds in Europe, north Africa and temperate Asia; and winters in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical Asia. It feeds on insects which are caught in flight, and it migrates to climates where flying insects are plentiful. It has a blue head and upperparts, white rump and pure white underparts, and is found in both open country and near human habitation. It is similar in appearance to the two other martin species of the genus ''Delichon'', which are both endemic to eastern and southern Asia. It has two accepted subspecies. Both the scientific and colloquial name of the bird are related to its use of human-made structures. It builds a closed cup nest from mud pellets under eaves or similar locations on buildings usually in colonies. It is hunted by the Eurasian hobby (''Falco subbuteo''), and like other birds is affected by internal parasites and external fleas and mites, although its large range and population mean that it is not threatened globally. ==Taxonomy== The common house martin was first described by Linnaeus in his ''Systema Naturae'' in 1758 as ''Hirundo urbica'', but was placed in its current genus, ''Delichon'', by Thomas Horsfield and Frederic Moore in 1854. ''Delichon'' is an anagram of the Ancient Greek term ''χελιδών'' (''chelīdōn''), meaning "swallow", and the species name ''urbicum'' (''urbica'' until 2004, due to a misunderstanding of Latin grammar) means "of the town" in Latin. The genus ''Delichon'' is a recent divergence from the barn swallow genus ''Hirundo'', and its three members are similar in appearance with blue upperparts, a contrasting white-rump, and whitish underparts. In the past, the common house martin was sometimes considered to be conspecific with the Asian house martin (''D. dasypus''), which breeds in the mountains of central and eastern Asia and winters in Southeast Asia, and it also closely resembles the Nepal house martin (''D. nipalense''), a resident in the mountains of southern Asia. Although the three ''Delichon'' martins are similar in appearance, only ''D. urbicum'' has a pure white rump and underparts.〔 The common house martin has two geographical subspecies, the western nominate subspecies ''D. u. urbicum'', and the eastern ''D. u. lagopodum'', which was described by German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in 1811. Other races, like ''meridionalis'' from around the Mediterranean have been described, but the claimed differences from the nominate race are clinal, and therefore probably invalid.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Common house martin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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