270 H1RUND1NID.E. 



1881, p. 47, 1882, p. 260; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. x, p. 90; Oates in 

 Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 177. 

 The Cashmere House Martin, Jerd. 



Coloration. Very similar to C. urbica, but with the whole lower 

 plumage pale smoky brown and the axillaries darker browu. The 

 shaft-lines on the rump are generally coarser. 



This species and the preceding are so closely allied that they 

 can only be separated with certainty when full-grown and when 

 the tail is perfect. In C. urbica the difference between the middle 

 and the outermost pair of tail-feathers varies from half to three- 

 quarters of an inch, whereas in C. Tcashmiriensis, it is never more 

 than a quarter of an inch. C. urbica is a larger bird. 



Length about 5 ; tad 2-1 : wing 4 ; tarsus "5 ; bill from gape "45. 



Distribution. The series of this bird in the Hume Collection is 

 little better than that of C. urbica. There are three adult specimens 

 from Sikhim (April) ; one nearly adult from the Sutlej valley ; 

 five from Kashmir ; two from Gilgit (May and July) ; one from 

 Hazara (November) ; one from Grarhwal (December) ; and a solitary 

 specimen from the plains, obtained by Blanford at Bilaspur in the 

 Central Provinces in April. 



This species ascends the Himalayas up to 12,000 or 13,000 feet, 

 and it appears to breed along the whole range, from Kashmir to 

 Sikhim. Its range in the plains is quite unknown. 



Habits, Sfc. Breeds in Kashmir in April and May, and probably 

 a second time later on, constructing a mud nest, shallow and cup- 

 shaped, in the hollows of rocks, many birds breeding together. 

 The eggs are not known, but will undoubtedly prove to be pure 

 white. 



806. Chelidun lagopilS. The Siberian Martin. 



Hirundo lagopoda, Pall. Zvogr. Hosso-Asiat.i, p. 532 (1811). 

 Clielidon urbica (Pall.) apud Tick. J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 277 note ; 



Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 127 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 45. 

 Clielidon whiteleyi, Sicinhoe, P. Z. S. 1862, p. 820 ; id. Ibis, 1874, 



p. 152, pi. vii, tig. 2. 

 Uhelidon lapopoda (Pall.), Oates, B. B. i, p. 311 ; Scebuhni, Hist. 



Brit. Birds, ii, p. 170 note. 

 Clielidon lagopus (Pall.), Sharpe, Cat. B. M. x, p. 03. 



Coloration. Forehead, crown, nape, back, scapulars, and lesser 

 wing-coverts glossy steel-black ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 white, the shafts dark ; tail, wings, and greater coverts brown ; 

 lores, the feathers under the eye and above the ear-coverts dull 

 black ; cheeks, lower ear-coverts, and all the lower plumage pure 

 white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries dark smoky brown. 



Length nearly 5 inches; tail 2-'S ; wing about 4-5; bill from 

 gape '45. 



Distribution. A House-Martin was observed in Burma by the 

 late Colonel Tickell many years ago. He identified it with C. ur- 

 bica, but his description and figure of it in his MS. work, now in 

 the Library of the Zoological Society of London, show that he 



