4<6 Mr. W. E. Brooks on Birds observed 



56. MiLvus GoviNDA. Tolerably common both at Nynee 

 Tal and Almorah, at both of which places it breeds about two 

 months later than it does in the plains. 



73. Ketupu flavipes, I saw one of these birds, which had 

 just been caught. 



82. HiRUNDO RUSTiCA. Commou at Almorah, where it 

 breeds. I never found the nest ; but I shot a fully fledged young 

 one. 



84. HiRUNDO RuncEPS. Tolerably common along the rocky 

 streams in the valleys, where it breeds. 



85. HiRUNDO DAURiCA. Commou both at Nynee Tal and 

 Almorah, also at Binsur, which is twelve miles further north 

 than Almorah. The hill-bird is rather larger than that of the 

 plains, and the red colour on the upper tail-coverts is much 

 lighter in colour, being almost white at the terminal portion of 

 the tail-coverts; in other words, the hill-bird answers perfectly 

 to the description of H. daurica, and the bird of the plains to 

 that of H. erijthropygia. I believe the slight difference to be 

 merely the effect of climate; for in voice, habits, and mode of 

 breeding, the birds are evidently the same. The nest is always 

 shaped like half of a retort, fixed to the underside of an over- 

 hanging rock or cave, generally with only one entrance ; but my 

 friend Mr. Home has given me an account of one fixed to one 

 of the verandah -rafters of a house, where there were two en- 

 trances. In the hills I found the nest several tiuies, sometimes 

 in open exposed places, at other times where the rocks were 

 overgrown with wood. The eggs mostly resemble those I took 

 in the plains. In the plains the bird does not breed till the hot 

 winds are over, end of June or beginning of July ; but in the 

 hills I found eggs nearly hatched in May. Others, at Binsur, 

 Mr. Home informs me, have only just laid in the middle of 

 July. The hill-bird breeding in the verandahs of houses as 

 well as in caves accords with the habit of the Chinese bird, the 

 true H. daurica *. A few days since, I observed a pair building 

 on the underside of the arch of a bridge, a situation generally 

 chosen by H. ruficeps when there is water under the bridge. 



* See Mr. S\Yinlioe's remarks, Ibis, 1868, p. 256. 



