1 . CHELIDON. 



91 



Tail of Ckelidon cashmiriensis. 



the former bird as being pure white below, whereas C. cashmiriensis 

 is " dusky beneath, with dusky mesial centres to the feathers of the 

 abdomen, flanks, and rump." I have not recently been able to re- 

 examine Colonel Biddulph's Gilgit series of Martins ; but I may state 

 that all the birds of his collecting, now in the British Museum, 

 are true C. cashmiriensis. 



It is unwise to depend too much on the dusky coloration of 

 C. cashmiriensis below as a specific character, as old birds of 

 C. urhica in worn plumage often partake of a dingy appearance on 

 the underparts, while the young birds always have the throat 

 washed with smoky brown. As regards the distinctness of the shaft- 

 lines on the rump and under tail-coverts, great variation takes place 

 in both species : sometimes it is very distinct, at other times scarcely 

 perceptible ; and it is quite as much a character of C. urhica as of 

 C. cashmiriensis. In fact the two birds are so closely allied that 

 the most reliable differences between them may be taken to be the 

 shorter and less deeply forked tail of C. cashmiriensis, accompanied 

 by its smaller size. 



H((b. Probably confined to the Himalayas during summer, 

 descending to the lower valleys and the plains of India in winter. 

 As with C. urhica, its exact range is not known. 



a. 2 ad. sk. 

 6. J ad. sk. 

 c, d. Ad. sk. 



e. 5 ad. sk. 



f. Ad. et juv. sk. 



Gilgit, July 4, 1880. 

 Gilgit, May 13, 1879. 

 Cashmere. 



Korha, Bilaspur district, 



Central India, April 14. 

 India. 



Col. J. Biddulph [C.l. 

 Col. J.BiddulphtC.]. 

 Gould Collection. (Types 



of species.) 

 W. T. Blanford, Esq. 



[P.]. 

 J. R. Reeves, Esq. [P.]. 



3. Chelidon dasypus. 



Chelidon dasypus, Bjy. Consp. i. p. 343 (1860, e.v. Temm. MS.) ; 



Horsf. Sf Moore, Cat. B. E.I. Co. Mm. i. p. 384 (1854) ; Gray, 



Han'd-l. B. i. p. 74, no. 883 (1869) ; Dresser, B. Eur. iii. p. 498 



(1875). 

 Chelidon blakistoni, Sxcinh. T.Z.S. 1862, p. 320; id. Ibis,^l863, 



p. 90; Whitely, Ibis, 1867, p. 196 ; Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 74, no. 



882 (1869) ; hivinh. Ibis, 1874, p. 152, pi. vii. fig. 1; id. Ibis, 1875, 



