30 CYPSELID.E. 



in February 1880, I sent my man again to the rocks, with the 

 farmer's people. They were there for three days, and returned on 

 the 28th with about 12 or 14 Ibs. of nests, which 1 examined. 

 These nests were undoubtedly first nests, as not a single egg had 

 been laid. All were quite as impure and mixed with grass and 

 feathers as those 1 had got in the preceding April, when there 

 were eggs or young birds in every nest. The farmer still held out 

 that white nests are sometimes got. Of course it is possible that 

 a few pairs of C.syftdiopygia may breed in the same cave, but none 

 of the specimens got were of this species, and I think it is highly 

 improbable that they occur. Determined to sift the matter as 

 closely as possible, I sent my shikaree again with the farmer's 

 people for the April take. He spent three days on the rocks, from 

 the 7th to 9th of April, and returned with about two dozen of the 

 purest and comparatively whitest nests that were found on this 

 occasion, as well as eggs and specimens of Gollocalia. The nests 

 were all mixed with grass and feathers precisely as before. 



" The evidence, therefore, is now pretty complete, and shows 

 conclusively that Collocalia does not make pure white nests in this 

 locality. The Vengoiia nests are all despatched to Groa in the first 

 instance, but I have not yet ascertained their ultimate destination. 

 Commercially, they must rank as a very third sort commodity. 

 The nests 1 got in February were literally swarming with common 

 bugs." 



Captain Horace Terry writes : " One day, while I was in the 

 Pulney Hills (June 1883), a native whom I employed to collect 

 for me brought me word that he had found some Swifts breeding 

 in a cave. I went with him the next day, and close to the Pillar 

 Eocks niy guide showed me a large sort of hole, and intimated I 

 was to go down it. I did not quite like the look of it ; it was the 

 sort of place where one might meet anything and with no room to 

 pass. However, as the man absolutely refused to go first (which 

 was odd, as he assured me he had been there the day before), I 

 had no choice, so I went. After going through a sort of tunnel 

 for some few yards in a downhill direction in the dark, I found 

 myself in a good-sized cave with a high roof, and an opening (quite 

 inaccessible from the outside) on to the face of the cliff. Here 

 were the Swifts safe enough, but what puzzled me was how on 

 earth the man knew they were there, as I am quite convinced he had 

 never been down that hole before ; there were no signs of footmarks 

 in the sand, his description of the cave was quite inaccurate, and 

 he could not possibly have seen anything of it from the outside. 

 The cave was occupied by a large number of Swifts (C. unicolor) 

 flying in and out, who had their nests near the roof of the cave, 

 quite out of reach, and it was impossible to get at all near to any 

 of them.'' 



Mr. Bourdillon, writing from Travancore, says: "The cave in 

 which the Edible-nest Swiftlets breed is on the opposite side of 

 the valley to this bungalow, at an elevation of about 2600 feet. It is 

 formed by the displacement of a huge mass of rock, which, sliding 



