BOMBAY NATUBAL IIISTOllY SOCIETY. 



85.— THE MOSQUE SWALLOW. 

 Hirundo eryl/iropyrjia, SyJces. 



The Mosque Swallow occurs generally throughout Western India, 

 but is more common in hilly districts (such as Mount Aboo), than 

 in the open country. Most of them retire to the hills to breed about 

 April, but a few remain, and nests are not unfrequently found in the 

 plains. The nest, constructed of pellets of mud (which the bird 

 procures from the banks of the nearest pond or river), is of a peculiar 

 shape : it consists of a bulb-like chamber, five or six inches in length 

 at one end, with a tubular passage, sometimes eight or nine inches 

 long at the other, which the male continues to lengthen, even after 

 the eggs are laid and while the female is sitting upon them. It lias, 

 not inaptly, been described as retort or rather half-retort shape. It 

 is usually affixed to the roof of a cave, under a bridge or culvert, or 

 to the under surface of a projecting ledge of rock. 



The nest is well lined with soft feathers, and the eggs, three in 

 number, are pure unspotted white, of a longish oval shape, and 

 average 0*78 inches in length by 0*55 in breadth. 



After the birds have once selected a site for their nest, thev are 

 very difficult to drive away. I have often broken open nests to see 

 if any eggs had been laid, and they have always been repaired, and 

 I have eventually obtained eggs from them. To such an extent is the 

 constructive faculty developed in these birds, that they ofen make 

 two or more nests before they are satisfied, and they are known to 

 make a winter residence, in which eggs are never found. They are 

 solitary breeders. 



86.— THE INDIAN CLIFF SWALLOW. 



Hirundo Jluvicula, Jerd. 



The Indian Cliff Swallow is not uncommon in some parts of the 

 Deccan, but is somewhat locally distributed ; it occurs at Satara and 

 Sholapur in some numbers ; near Aboo and Oeesa it is very rare; but at 

 Ahmedabad there are several colonies ; it is common but local in 

 Nassick and Khandeish, and occurs at Baroda. It has not been 

 reported from Sind. They are generally permanent residents where 

 found ; breeding twice in the year, from February to April, and again 

 in July, August and the early part of September. 



They build retort-shaped neste of mud, but very different to those 

 of the Mosque Swallow, the bulb or chamber portion being affixed to 

 the under-surface of a shelving rock, or under a bridge, with the 



