192 HIEUNDINID^. 



breeding in cliffs, to give one single instance (and I could give 

 fifty), visiting the lliver Chambal, where the Eta\\ah and Gwalior 

 road crosses it, and following its course dowu\Aards to its junction 

 at Bhurrey with the Jumna, one will meet with at least a hundred 

 colonies of this species, all with their clustered nests plastered 

 against the faces of the high clay cliffs which overhang the river. 



They breed, according to my experience, from February to April 

 and again in July and August. They build a small, more or less 

 retort-shaped mud nest, in clusters of from 20 to 200, packed as 

 closely as possible, so that a section parallel to the wall or cliff 

 face against wbich a colony has established itself, and about 

 4 inches away from the wall, would present an appearance much 

 like that of a honeycomb, though the cells would be less regular. 

 The tubular mouths, from 2 to 5 inches long, all ])oint outwards, 

 but those of the exterior nests of the cluster are generally turned 

 somewhat. The chambers vary a good deal in size, but average 

 about 4 inches in diameter. Their nests are to be found equally in 

 the wildest and most desolate, and again, as at the Ivotwalee in 

 Delira and the city-gate at Ajmere, in the most thronged and fre- 

 quented localities. 



The nests are w^ell lined with feathers, and 1 remember more than 

 once that, \\hen robbing these nests, numbers of feathers were 

 carried away by the wind, all of which the little Swallows indus- 

 triously captured in their mouths, but at last, not knowing what 

 to do with them, the men being still at work at the nests, appa- 

 rently reluctantly let them fly. 



Mr. E. Thompson says: — "I found large numbers of this 

 Swallow breeding in the Central Provinces, especially about the 

 fine arched bridges w'hicb span the rivers on the Great Xorlhern 

 and Deccau road."" 



Mr. F. E. Elewitt enquires : — "' Does this bird breed twice in 

 the year ? I ask the question for the following reason. Though I 

 have occasionally seen this Swallow in other localities, yet only at 

 Talbehut have 1 found the nest. On the side wall of a Hindoo 

 place of worship facing the main road of the city there are clustered 

 closely together above one hundred of these retort-shaped nests. 

 "When I passed there in the latter end of April the birds, a perfect 

 colony of them, were breeding. 



" Owing to the strong prejudice of the people, who would not 

 permit the nests to be robbed, I with difficulty secured four eggs. 

 Again, in the same nests, the birds were found breeding in August, 

 and some twenty eggs obtained. Four appears to be tlie regular 

 number of eggs." 



So far as 1 can judge, three is the normal number ; I ha\'e 

 opened a very large number of nests, and only twice or thrice 

 found more than three eggs.'" 



Mr. James Aitken writes : — " The smallest of our Swallows, and 

 much less familiarly known than the other si)ecies, as it lives in 

 colonies, and is strictly confined to certain localities ; at Akola 

 there is one of these colonies, which build their nests under a 



