NESTING IN WESTERN INDTA. 



tubes hanffins down, or rather a little outwards, the whole looking not 

 unlike a hu^o honeycomb. These clusters of nests are often of great 

 size, containing from 30 to 200 nests, and are almost always in the 

 immediate vicinity of water. 



The nests are well lined with feathers; the eggs, throe in number, 

 are longish ovals in shape, and average 0*7(j inches in length by 

 about 0'53 in breadth. They are of two different types. In one they 

 aro pure unspotted white ; in the other, they are more or less speckled, 

 spotted or streaked with yellowish-brown; these markings are not 

 clearly defined. The nests, especially the outer ones of a cluster, 

 are often appropriated by Common Swifts and House Sparrows. 



39.-TE1E INDIAN SAND MARTIN. 



Cofijle sinensis, J. E. Gr. 

 The Indian Rand Martin is common in suitable places in 

 most parts of Western India, but has not as yet been recorded from 

 Ratnagiri. It is a permanent resident, breeding from November to 

 March, or even later. 



They bore holes in the sandy banks of rivers to a depth of 

 from eighteen to forty or fifty inches, according to the relative hard- 

 ness of the soil ; and at the end of this hole or passage, which is 

 enlarged, they make a slight nest of fiue grass roots lined with sofc 

 feathers. The eggs, three in number, are pure white, quite devoid 

 of gloss; they are oval in shape, and measure 0*03 inches in length 

 by about Q'48 in breadth. 



The nest holes are not solitary, but they are much more scattered 

 than is usually the case with the British species. 



90.— THE DUSKY CRAG MARTIN. 



Coixjle concolor, Sykvs. 



The Dusky Crag Martin, with the exception of Sind, occurs more 

 or less abundantly throughout our limits. It is somewhat solitary 

 in its habits, rarely more than a single pair nesting in the same 

 vicinity. 



They have at least two broods in the year, and lay at, different 

 seasons indifferent parts of the couutry, but from January to March 

 and from July to September are perhaps the best times to search for 

 eggs. The nest is placed under a projection in the face of a rocky 

 cliff, far from the haunts of man, or under ihe eaves of a house in his 

 vei-y midst. It is very like that of the Wire-tailed Swallow, but is 



