180 HIEUNDINID^. 



river-banks, iu December. On the banks of the Bhinia, Davidson 

 got a single nest with three fresh eggs, in March." 



Finally Colonel Godwin-Austen notes that this Sand-Martin 

 Mas " breeding in January at Shirshang in banks of the Lumessary 

 E/iver " in the Khasi liills. 



The eggs of tliis bird, like those of all Idndred species, are pure 

 white and devoid of gloss. In shape they are oval, a good deal 

 pointed towards one end ; and, so far as size and shape goes, they 

 ap])ear to differ scarcely perceptibly from those of G. riparia. 



They vary in length from 0-63 to 0*73 inch, and iu breadth 

 from 0-45 to 0-53 inch. The average of a lax'ge series is 068 by 

 0-48 inch. 



I here reproduce a note I wrote years ago regarding the uidifi- 

 cation of C. suhsoceata, which I at that time, together with others, 

 considered might be a race or subspecies of 0. sinensis : — 



On the 11th of January, 18G7, I came across a colony of Sand- 

 Martins, breeding in the high sandy banks of the Jumna, below 

 Slieregiu'h, very near in fact to the joint boundary of Etawah and 

 C'awnpoor. I shot two of the birds and got some eggs. I re- 

 visited the spot on the 12th March, and again shot a pair of the 

 birds and obtained more eggs. 



Later, examining the specimens, I found that they differed from 

 some specimens I had of C. sinensis, exactly as pointed out in !Sir 

 W. Jardine's letter to Adams, and accepted them as distinct. 

 Further experience has led me to doubt the value of the diagnostic 

 ])oints indicated by Jardine. If distinct, I can say this much of 

 the uidification of the Dusky Sand-Martin : — 



They build in communities in sandy banks overhanging ri^'ers. 

 They bore a small hole, about 3 inches in diameter, from 1^ to 3 

 feet deep into the bank, usually sloping a little upwards, at the 

 end of which they scoop out a sort of chamber, say 6 inches in 

 diameter ; there they make a nest of very fine twigs and grass 

 lined, with a few soft feathers of the wild goose, brahminy, and 

 such-like water-fowl ; they lay from two to three eggs. 



The eggs are white and glossless, closely resembling those of G. 

 sinensis and G. riparia, from which it would be difficult to sei)arate 

 them. Normally, they are a pointed oval, but somewhat cylindri- 

 cal varieties occur. They vary a good deal in size, as do tliose of 

 all the allied species. 



The eggs that I took of this supj)osed species varied from < >-64 

 to 0-74 inch in leugtli, and from 0*48 to 0-53 in breadth, and they 

 averaged 0*68 by 0-5 inch. 



810. Ptyonoprogne rupestris (Scop.). The Graij-Martin. 



Cotile rupestris {Scop.), Jcrd, B, Ind. i, p. 100. 



Ptyonoprogne rupestris [Scop.), Hume, Hough Draft N, Sf E. no. 01. 



The Crag-Martin only breeds, so far as I know, amongst pre 



