THE BIRDS OF NORTH KANARA. 49 



of which were hollow throughout. After much labour I cut a, hole 

 large enough to put my head into, and could see everything between 

 myself and the large hole they entered, but no trace of a nest of any 

 description was visible. Some years afterwards I visited the tree again, 

 but there were no swifts about it. Again in March, 1893, I saw a 

 number flying round some dead palm trees near iSirsi, and striking one 

 of the trees with a stick, I started a swift from the second hole in it, 

 some thirty feet from the ground. This tree leant against a stout ban- 

 yan which crossed it twenty feet up, and consequently a boy easily 

 climbed up. He got to the hole immediately below the hole the swift 

 came from and some four feet below it, but though a plu'?ky youngster, 

 he objected to go higher, saying the tree was quite rotten, and it shook 

 and cracked so ominously, I did not like to press him further, and as I 

 had some idea of propping up a ladder, I did not cut the tree down, 

 a thing I now much regret, as I could not find time to come back, as 

 I intended, in the afternoon. However in 1896 at Kukbarada in Supa 

 I cut down a " baini " tree, round which two pairs habitually circled, 

 but there was not a trace of nest or egg shells. 



1081. COLLOCALIA FUCIPIIAGA. 



This swift breeds in considerable numbers on Nitrani (Pigeon 

 Island), off the coast of Honawar in March and April, and I have had 

 nests brought from tbere for me. I have seen large flocks at Mur- 

 deshwar and also at Gairsoppa in the cold weather. 



1086. Macropteryx coronata. Tick. 



Generally distributed in Kanara and really common in the opener 

 jungle along the coast and in the east portion of the district. I have 

 taken the nest with young as early as 29th January at Godhalli close 

 to Karwar, but as a rule eggs are not found till well on in February, 

 and may be got any time afterwards till near the end of April. 

 So common is the bird in the hills east of Ankola, that having taken 

 one or two eggs there in March, in an evil moment I promised one of 

 the villagers a rupee for each egg he could find for me. He turned up 

 at my camp fitty miles off in the end of April with a small basket, 

 which, on examination, proved to contain 46 eggs of this species. As 

 it only, of course, lays one egg and takes a long time to build, at the 

 smallest computation this represented the nests of at least 23 pairs. 

 The bird is common during the rains at Karwar. 



