MACROPTEEYX. 37 



and no amount of looking from underneath would show you that 

 there was a nest under her. The particular nest I send you was 

 placed in a Boswellia tlmrifera tree at about 12 feet from the ground. 

 It is very small and saucer-like, composed of the exfoliated flakes 

 of bark of the tree (BoswelUa thurifera) mixed with one or two 

 feathers, all cemented together by the inspissated saliva of the bird/' 

 Mr. E-. Thompson has recently sent me another nest and egg of 

 this species. 1 1<- siys : " This nest was found in the Ahiri forests 

 of the Chanda District, Central Provinces, on the 7th of May last. 

 The nest was attached to a dead branch of the Boswellia thiirifera, 

 at a height of about 20 feet from the ground. 



" It is not in the high or deep forest that the bird breeds, but 

 in scattered jungle, usually covering low stony hills and ridges. 

 The nest in this particular case was in a tree quite by itself, with 

 only a few others in the neighbourhood scattered about here and 

 there. 



" My attention was directed to the male bird, who was trying 

 his best to dislodge a Dove from a tree near to the one on which 

 I ultimately found the nest. I knew that there must be a nest 

 somewhere near, and soon caught sight of the female sitting trans- 

 versely across a thin dead bough, the tiny nest, glued on to the 

 side ot' this branch, being as usual scarcely perceptible from below. 

 I have seen two other nests of this Swallow in this neighbourhood 

 each containing a tolerably well-fledged young one. The nests in 

 these instances also were placed on Bosiuellia trees. The present 

 nest contained the single egg now sent, and is precisely similar to 

 the one I found in Mundla in 1869. To the best of my belief 

 they never lay more than one egg in the nest." 



The stem to which the nest was attached is about 0*8 inch in 

 diameter, against the side of this the nest is glued, so that the upper 

 margin of the nest is on a level with the upper surface of the 

 branch. 



The nest itself is half of a rather deep saucer 1-75 inches in 

 diameter, and about 0-6 in depth internally. The nest is entirely 

 composed of thin flakes of bark, cemented together by the bird's 

 saliva, and is about an eighth of an inch in thickness. 



The egg is a very elongated oval, obtuse at both ends, and with 

 little or no gloss. It is white with a slight greyish-blue tinge, 

 and measures 0-94 in length by 0'61 in breadth. 



Captain Horace Terry was fortunate enough to secure the nest 

 and egg of this Swift on the Pulney Hills. He says : " I found 

 this bird fairly common on the slopes of the Pulney Hills in 1883. 

 One day (7th April) I went down the slopes of the Pittur Valley to 

 see what I could get in the way of birds and eggs, and noticed 

 several of these Swifts about, and looking up at a large tree, 

 with no branches near the ground, and with a sort of gum oozing 

 out in places, I saw a bird near the top at the extremity of one of 

 the branches. I looked at it through my glasses and saw it was a 

 Crested Swift. With some little trouble I frightened it off the 

 tree ; it took a short flight and then returned to its original position. 



