180 HIETJNDINID^E. 



river-banks, in December. On the banks of the Bhima, Davidson 

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



Finally Colonel Godwin-Austen notes that this Sand-Martin 

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

 River " in the Khasi hills. 



The eggs of this bird, like those of all kindred 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 

 appear to differ scarcely perceptibly from those of C. riparia. 



They vary in length from O63 to 0*73 inch, and in breadth 

 from 0*45 to 0*53 inch. The average of a large series is O68 by 

 0-48 inch. 



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

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

 considered might be a race or subspecies of C. sinensis : 



On the llth of January, 1867, I came across a colony of Sand- 

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

 Sheregurh, very near in fact to the joint boundary of Etawah and 

 Cawnpoor. 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 

 points 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 rivers. 

 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 C. 

 sinensis and C. riparia, from which it would be difficult to separate 

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

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

 all the allied species. 



The epgs that I took of this supposed species varied from 0-64 

 to O74 inch in length, and from O48 to 0-53 in breadth, and they 

 averaged 0-68 by 0-5 inch. 



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



Cotile rupestris (Scop.), Jerd. . Ind, i, p. 1G6. 



Ptyonoprogne rupestris (Scop.}, Hume, Rough Draft N. fy E. no. 91. 



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



