442 B1BP9 OF INDlxl. 



and Burmali. It is most abundant in wooded districts, espeoially 

 where palm-trees abound, more particularly the Palmyra i)alm, from 

 which indeed it takes several of its native names. AVhere they are 

 numerous, several may be seen seated on the same branch, but they 

 fiy off independently of each other, and after a flight of some few- 

 minutes, return either again to the same perch or to another tree. 

 At times I have seen an imm.ense flock in the air all together, 

 hunting for insects, and remaining on the wing for a much longer 

 period. A small party may occasionally be seen, skimming over the 

 surface of a tank, picking np an insect now and then, and returning 

 to a high bough of a tree, overhanging the water. They live entirely 

 on insects of various kinds. I have found them most abundant in 

 the Carnatic, the Malabar coast, the Korthern Circars, and Bengal; 

 very rare in the Decean and Central India. To my great surprise, 

 I found them on the sides of hills at Darjeeling, on cleared spots 

 lip to above 4,000 ft. of elevation. 



I have procured the nest of this bird, situated on a Palmyra tree 

 on the stem of the leaf. It was a deep cup-shaped nest, made of 

 grass, leaves, and numerous feathers, and contained two eggs, 

 white with a greenish tinge, and with light brown spots, chiefly at 

 the larger end. I see that Mr. Layard procured the nest in Ceylon, 

 where this bird is common, in the head of cocoa-nut-trees, made of 

 fibres and grasses ; and it was probably tlie nest of this bird that 

 was brought to Tickell, as that of the Palm Swift, Cypselus batas- 

 siensis. 



Its flight is elegant and Swallow-like, a few rapid strokes of the 

 wing alternating with a gliding flight with outspread wings, and 

 often in circles, or, when in close pursuit of an insect, rapid and 

 direct. Its cry, which it frequently utters, both when seated and 

 in flight, is plaintive, very like that of the Shikra (Micronisus 

 ladius), but more subdued. 



The true A. leucorhynclios, with whicli the Indian species was 

 long confounded, inhabits the Pliilippines ; and A . leucogoster, 

 Val. (Jeucoi'hynclios apud Horsfield), is from Java and Sumatra, 

 and also the Andaman islands ; and there are several others from 

 the more distant islands, and many from Australia. The genus 



