174 CTPSELID^. 



sides of head, hind-neck, sides of rump and upper tail-coverts, 

 upper surface of wings and tail blackish brown, with dark metallic 

 green gloss ; back pale brown, darker on the edges ; lower parts 

 rich brown ; chin and throat much paler, but the feathers of the 

 latter with dark tips ; a longitudinal band on the flanks behind 

 the thighs ; area behind vent and lower tail-coverts white. 



Bill black ; irides dark brown ; legs and feet pale fleshy pink 

 (^Baher). 



Length about 9 ; tail 2*6 ; wing 8 ; tarsus 'GS, The tail is 

 slightly wedge-shaped, and the shafts of the feathers are very 

 strong and project nearly half an inch. 



Distribution. Ceylon and Southern India ; not observed north of 

 lat. 12° in the Peninsula ; commonest about the Nilgiris and other 

 ranges ; also Cachar, the Assam hills, and Manipur, through- 

 out the Burmese countries, apparently passing farther south into 

 the allied C. gic/antea, which is only distinguished by wanting the 

 white loi'al spots. The specimen from Tenasserim referred by 

 Hume to C. gigantea, though not belonging to that race, may be 

 an intermediate form. The two are merely races. 



Habits, (^-c. Similar to those of C. nudipes, these Swifts being 

 equal, or possibly even superior, in speed. So Avonderful is their 

 flight that Mr. H. R. P. Carter remarked that a flock of Alpine 

 Swifts, passing over immediately after some of the present species, 

 "seemed to fly like Owls after the arrow-like speed of the Spine- 

 tails." He found that those he shot had fed on beetles, green 

 bugs, sand-wasps, and grasshoppers. The nests were discovered 

 by Mr. E. C. S. Baker in the North Cachar hills, on April 26th, 

 and described by him in the 'Asian.' They were large, shallow, 

 oval cups attached to the walls of (artificial) limestone caves, and 

 composed of moss and mud. They measured about 6 by 3| inches 

 outside, 4^ by 3 inside, and nearly an inch deep. Only fragments 

 of eggs, which were white and devoid of gloss, were found, but in 

 one nest were three young birds. 



1079. Chsetura sylvatica. The White-rumped Spine-tail. 



Acanthylis sylvatica, TicJiell, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 284 (1846) ; Jerdon, 



B. I. i, p. 170; id. Ibis, 1871, p. 354; Blanford, J. A. S. B. 



xxxviii, pt. 2, p. 169 ; Hume, J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 114 ; 



Ball, S. F. iii, p. 289 ; Walden, Ibis, 1876, p. 356. 

 Chsetm-a sylvatica, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 614 ; Ball, S. F. vii, 



p. 202 ; Hume, Cat. no. 95 ; Davison, S. F. x, p. 346 ; Ha7iert, 



Cat. B. M. xvi, p. 489. 



Coloration. Upper parts black or blackish brown, with slight 

 green gloss ; a broad white band across the rump ; chin, throat, 

 and breast greyish brown ; abdomen and lower tail-coverts white, 

 the two colours passing into each other ; wing beneath blackish 

 and glossy. In young birds the white feathers of the rump, 

 abdomen, and lower tail-coverts have black shafts. 



Bill, legs, and feet black ; iris dark brown. 



