OUXITIIULOaV. 357 



Tlio^o sand martins {Cofyle) are distribntcil over the whole of Tiulia ami Burma 

 and breed ia vast companies iu the sandy banks of rivers, giving a very animated 

 aj)l)oaranec to the loeulity. 



ClIELinON URBICA, L. Jlurtabuii. 



The Englisli house mai'tin has been noted as an occasional visitant at Maulniain. 



Ptvoxoi'kogne. Teuasserim. 



A species of crag martin occurs about the inaccessible clili's of Moolcyit, but 

 was not secured. It was smaller and darker than rupestris, and possibly it might 

 liave been concolor. 



cypselix.t:. 



The swifts are distinguished flora the swallows by their excessively long and 

 pointed wings, and prodigious powers of flight. They rarely descend to the ground 

 or perch on trees, but roost in crannies of buildings or clilfs. Tlieir nests are com- 

 posed of feathers or such light objects as can be collected on the wing. Sometimes 

 these feathers are agglutinated together into a cardboard-like substance, on which, 

 without any lining, the eggs are laid, and in some species the entire nest is formed of 

 overUicing sti'ings of mucus, secret(!d by the salivary glands, and these constitute 

 th(! ' edible liird's nest ' of the Chinese epicures. In the genus Acanthijlis the tail 

 feathers end iu rigid spines. All the swifts lay spotless white eggs. 



A. CORACIXA, Miill. Southern Tenasserim. 



CvpsEi.us suBFUECATUs, Blytli. Choungthapce, Southern Tenasserim. 



C. PAClFicus, Lath. Assam. Tenasserim. Australia. 



C. BATASsiENsis, Gray. 



(-'. paliuanoii, Gray and Hai'd. 

 Hume doubts the occurrence of this, the common Indian Palm-swift, in Burma 

 and sujjjjoses tliat the next species has been mistaken for it. 



C. INFUMATUS, Sclater. Pegu, ilartaban. Tenasserim. 



The common Burmese palm-swift. 



C. AcrTicATjDA, Blyth. Andamans. 



Distinguished fi'om C. apus and C. leucomjx by wanting the white band of the 

 latter across the rump, and by having the feet bare and whitish, and the tarsus less 

 feathered, in place of the black feet and densely feathered tarsus of C. aptis. 



The next genus, AcanthijUs, is distinguished by the shafts of the tail feathers 

 ending in rigid spines. 



AcAXTHVLis GiGANTEA, Hass. Arakau. Tenasserim. Andamans. Ceylon. 



A. IXDICA, Hume. Southern Tenasserim. 



Lord Walden considers this as a synonym of the last, but this is not admitted 

 by Hume. 



A. iNDicA, Hume. Andamans. Southern India. 



The birds which now follow form a small group wherein the peculiar develop- 

 ment of the salivary glands in the breeding season reaches its maximum. In the palm 

 swift we see the salivary secretion sparingly used to affix light feathers to the palm 

 leaves, to form the nest, but in the Cullocalias the secretion in question is more largely 

 used, tUl in C. spodiopxjgia (and perhaps another species or two) it is solely used, and 

 to the complete exclusion of any e.\traneous materials, in the construction of the 

 beautiful gelatinous nests, so prized in China as an invigorating delicacy. 



CoLLoC;iiiA LiNcni, Horsf. Mergui Archipelago. Andamans. 



Nicobars. Java. 



A race of this species has been named C. afftnis by Tytler, and should the Java bird 

 prove distinct, Tytler's name must be adopted for the Andaman bird generally recorded 

 as C. linchi, S.F. ii. p. 157. This species breeds abundantly in the Andamans and 

 Nicobars iu caves, but of late years it has taken to building inside houses. Their 



