662 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



(172) Collocalia fuciphaga — The Indian Edible-nest Swiftlet. 



Stanford, No. 1081 ; Jerdon, No. 103. 

 Common on the hills, where it is a resident. " Breeds abundantly 

 throughout the hills of Travancore, sometimes in small colonies of four 

 or five pairs and sometimes in larger colonies of as many hundreds. The 

 nest is formed of moss stuck together with a gelatinous substance which 

 often covers the whole of the interior of the nest, and with which it is 

 securely attached to the rock. They are often so thickly placed together 

 that it is very difficult to detach one of them without bringing away two 

 or three others. The largest breeding place I know of is a cave situated 

 at the base of a grass ridge at an elevation of about 2,300 feet in South 

 Travancore. The greater number of the nests there when I visited it 

 in March contained two pointed oval white eggs." 



(173) Macropteryx coronata. — The Indian Crested Swift. 

 Blanford, No. 1086 ; Jerdon, No. 104. 

 This Swift is by no means common ; the Museum contains a few 

 specimens without locality, and I have only once had one brought to mo 

 by my collector. 



(174) Caprimulgus asiaticus. — The Common Indian Nightjar. 



Blanford, No. 1091 ; Jerdon, No. 112. 

 The Common Indian Nightjar, or Ice-bird, is very common in the low 

 country throughout Travancore. 



(175) Caprimtjlgus macrurus. — Horsfield's Nightjar. 

 Blanford, No. 1093 ; Jerdon, No. 111. 

 I have only received two specimens of this bird, which were both shot 

 on the High Range. I do not think it occurs in South Travancore. 

 (176) Caprimtjlgus indicus. — The Jungle Nightjar. 

 Blanford, No. 1095; Jerdon, A r o. 107*108. 

 Mr. F. W. Bourdillon describes this Nightjar as " a winter visitor, 

 occurring rather abundantly from November to March and preferring 

 open grass land at the edge of forest." I think this is incorrect as 

 regards the whole range. It is a winter visitor to the lower slopes of 

 the hills, not during May, and later it is to be found on the High Range, 

 and as in Ceylon, as described by Colonel Legge, " it appears to leave 

 these high regions for warmer districts during the cold nights of the 

 opposite season." 



" The nest of this very common bird, if it deserves the name, is merely 

 a depression in the ground with possibly a few feathers to form a lining; 



