MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 771 



inqjUcissima, and its presence in a fish is curious, as none of the authorities 

 mention the fact that tapeworms occur in Indian fishes. As this genus is 

 however frequently found in birds, I presume that the fish must have swal- 

 lowed the ova expelled from some water-bird. 



In England and other European countries those whn eat the whiting and 

 the bream are not infested with the worm Ligula. In fact there is no case 

 on record in which the Ligula was ever known to have attacked man. Pro- 

 bably the gastric juice in the human stomach is strong enough to digest the 

 ova. In India, therefore, those who get the Chilwa for the table need not 

 be afraid of being infested with the parasitic worm Ligula. 



K. M. DIXON. 



Bombay, August, 1899. 



No. XIV.- THE COMMON INDIAN SWIFT. 



The Common Indian Swift {Cupaelm affiiih), JNo. 1073, Blfd., taking pos- 

 session of Rkd-rumped Swallow's {Hirundo erythropygia. 823.) Blfd., nest 

 whilst occupied by the latter, 



I am no ornithologist, I am sorry to say, and so am not sure that I am 

 giving these birds their correct names, but that they are not of the same spe- 

 cies, habits, and appearance I am certain ; and I give the circumstances in 

 connection with them, as they seem to me to be sufficiently unusual and 

 interesting. 



In the spring of 1897 a pair of Red-rumped Swallows — or what 

 I take to be these birds — fthey are in their ways, general appear- 

 ance, note and song, close connections of the Wire-tailed Swallow, 

 but very much more soberly coloured)— came and built their half -gourd 

 shaped mud nest at the upper end of one of the rafters of my verandah 

 and reared several broods in it, that year and the next. This spring they 

 again took up their residence in it, and had been occupying it for about a 

 week or so when a pair of the Common Indian Swifts appeared. I believe 

 they are the Common Indian Swifts, as they build their nests in the same 

 situations as the above-mentioned Swallows hut en'irely of feathers, instead 

 of mud, and are noisy and dirty birds about their nests, neither of which 

 the Swallows are. For these reasons I have not allowed the Swifts to build 

 in my verandah for some years past, though until last spring they have 

 persistently returned and endeavoured to do so. The Swifts came back 

 again this year, and one evening whilst I was sitting in this verandah, some 

 half-a-dozen yards from the Swallow's nest, one of the Swifts suddenly 

 darted into the Swallows' nest, and was followed by the other one. The 

 Swallows were in the nest at the time and after a few piteous cries they flew 

 out, leaving the Swifts in possession. The Swallows returned the next day, 

 and for a day or two afterwards tried, at intervals, to repossess them- 

 selves of their nest, but without success, for the Swifts have remained 



