340 Mr. Blyth's Commentary 



"a permanent resident in the Jordan valley." This non- 

 migratory character is in favour of Dr. Sclater's opinion that 

 these two Swifts form a peculiar section of the genus (P. Z. S. 

 1865, p. 602). I have known C. affinis to construct its con- 

 tinuous mass of nests in a low porch, so near the ground as to 

 be reached by the hand ; and I have also seen a huge cluster of 

 the nests attached to the roofing of one of the lofty minarets of 

 the mosque of Aurungzebe at Benares, and have noticed the 

 species resorting to other elevated sites ; but it very commonly 

 breeds in the porticos of houses, and sometimes within reach of 

 the hand in a crowded bazaar. 



101. Cypselus leuconyx, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xi. p. 886, xiv. 

 p. 212 (not p. 218). 



This is a considerably less robust species than C. pacificus 

 (Latham), to which Mr. Gould now adds as synonyms C. vit- 

 tatus, J. & S., C. austi'alis, Gould, and " Hirundo apus var /8," 

 of Pallas, who expressly states that it has black claws ; and there- 

 fore his description will not apply to C leuconyx. C. pacificus 

 inhabits the Tenasserim provinces and Pinang. I observed it 

 at Moulmein. 



102. Cpselus batassiensis. 



This and its African representative, C. ambrosiacus*, form 

 another distinct section of non-migratory Swifts. The range of 

 the Indian bird is probably coextensive with that of the Borassus- 

 palm, extending over the whole Indian region. It attaches its 

 remarkable nest to the under surface of a plait of the large fan- 

 like frond, and may also resort to other high " fan-palms," as 

 the Coryphee. Not unfrequently I have observed two or three 

 pairs of this Swift resorting to a particular palm that was also 

 tenanted by a colony of Ploceus bayaf. The natives of Bengal 



* Dr. Sclater (P. Z. S. 186.5, p. 601) ideutifies this with C. parvus ; but 

 see Dr. Pucheran's remarks (R. Z. 1853, p. 443). 



t The Borassusjlabelliformis is the most generally diffiised palm of the 

 Indian region, and it is the *'palm," par excellence, of Anglo-Indians. 

 Sometimes, though very rarely, its stem divides. At the Artillery 

 Station of Dumdum, near Calcutta, there is one of which the stem 

 divides, and each branch divides again dichotomously, showing four 

 contiguous " heads " or crowns of fronds. Among the drawings from the 



