504 Miscellaneous. 



is very strong and solid : a deserted, incomplete specimen now in my 

 hand shows the gradual formation of this, and the successive layers 

 round the rim of the cup, which the birds la.y on in building the nest, 

 diverging, as I before observed, to the centre. The depth of my 

 nest, and most perfect specimen (that from wliich I took the young 

 bird), is about If inch, or 2J long by 2 inches broad. I do not find^ 

 any appearance of blood m it, as the Rev. J. Barber (name illegibly;, 

 written) remarks in J. A. S. chap. xv. page 363. On applying the^, 

 nest to fire a strong smell of burnt animal matter at once shows the, , 

 nature of the giunmy substance or sahva. 



" It woidd be presumptuous in me to attempt to clear up the confu- 

 sion which exists as to the identification of the various species of Edi- 

 ble-nest-builders. No one has hitherto troubled himself to procure the 

 different swallows of the island, or to ascertain if moi'c species exist on 

 it and build; neither have I books or specimens to refer to. My only 

 notice is one received in a pamphlet printed for private circulation and 

 intended to elucidate information ; this it is well calculated to do, and 



1 hope the author (Dr. Blyth) will not find his labour unproductive ; 

 to this I must therefore confine myself, and name my birds from his 

 description, with which they agree — Collocalia nidijica. It would not 

 be amiss here to give a slight description of them : they belong to the 

 family Cypselidce, genus Collocalia of G. R. Gray. In structure they 

 are true Cypselidce, but comparatively feeble, havuig the first quill 

 shorter than the second, and the wings and tail broad. The feet and 

 legs differ from the well-feathered claws of the true Cypselus (?) in 

 being naked and the hind-toe not rotating forwards, but well-opposed, 

 resembhng in this respect those of Acant/it/lis (?). The present spe- 

 cies is about 4i or 4f inches in length ; middle tail-feathers about 



2 inches, outer f longer, thus forming when spread an indented 

 tail ; length of wing about 4^ inches. The general colour is a glossy 

 fuscous (illegible) bro^^^l, hght on the body, below very pale ; the 

 bUl is very short, nostrils broad and prominent, the eye large and 

 sunken ; flight rapid and sailing, soaring to immense altitudes ; even 

 while on the plateaux of the cave I could see many hundreds circling, 

 but just within sight, looking like mites in the clear blue space ! 

 When in Kandy in November last, by Ijang on the ground and keep- 

 ing my eyes long fixed on the sky, I could perceive what I now find 

 to be this species, sailing round and round on extended wings. I shot 

 several on the hills around Kandy, and in September I shot a speci- 

 men from a flock hunting ? (illegible) low over a paddy field at Cotta, 

 evidently in passing to their haimts, and I am able to say positively 

 that the birds I saw in Kandy were the same birds as those at Dia- 

 gallagoolawa ; from habit I can at once detect its flight from that 

 of the httle Cypselus balasiensis, which is a much shmmer bird, 

 having a forked tad, which it is continually spreading and folding, 

 and is the only swift which resembles this m size and colour. It 

 builds in the dead ( — ) of palmyrah-trees a somewhat similar nest 

 to Col. nidijica, but composed of soft downy substances and with 

 less saliva. I have not yet been able to ascertain how far Col. nidi- 

 jica extends over the island, but it certainly has not fallen under the 



notice of my fellow-member and ornithologist, — Brodie, Esq., of 



