COTILE. 255 



766. Chelidon nipalensis (Hodgs.\ Jtrd., B. ind. i. p. 168, 



No. 94 ; Dresser, B. Eur. iii. p. 499. Delichon nipalensis, Hodgs., Icon. ined. 

 Br. Mus. App. pi. xiv.; Moore, P.Z.S. 1854, p. 104, pt. Ixiii. ; Gould, B. 

 Asia, i. pi. 31; Hume, Sir. F. 1879^ p. 84. Hirundo nipalensis, Seebohm, 

 Hist. Br. B. iii. p. 179. The LITTLE HIMALAYAN MARTIN. 



Above, including the wing coverts, glossy blue black ; some of the white 

 bases of the feathers as of the preceding species showing through on the hind 

 neck ; primary coverts and quills black, edged with glossy blue black ; rump 

 white, the lower feathers barred with black tips ; upper tail coverts glossy blue 

 black, the basal ones white, and barred at the tip with glossy blue black ; tail 

 black with steel blue reflections ; lores, feathers round the eye and chin glossy 

 black ; cheeks, ear coverts, sides of upper breast, under tail coverts and throat 

 glossy blue black ; rest of under surface of the body from the lower throat 

 downwards white, slightly mottled with dark bases on the former ; thighs and 

 tarsal plumes white ; flanks washed with smoky brown j under wing coverts 

 and axillaries black, glossed with blue black. 



Length.- ^'i to 4-3 inches ; wing 3-7 to 375 ; tail 175; tarsus 0-35 to 0-4. 



Hab. Eastern Himalayas ; recorded from Nepaul, Sikkim and Nynee Tal. 

 Jerdon says he procured it at Darjeeling at about 4,500 feet of elevation in 

 the valley of the Rungnoo near the mineral springs, where, he adds he found it 

 flying over the jungles in large flocks towards the close of the rains and during 

 the cold weather. 



Gen. Cotile. Boie. 



Bill smaller than in Hirundo, weak, depressed, broad at the base, and barely 

 hooked at the tip ; nostrils with an overhanging superior membrane, the nasal 

 aperture being longitudinal ; wing long, 1st primary generally the longest and 

 longer than the tail, which is even and without any indentation or fork on the 

 inner web of the outer tail feathers ; tarsus slightly longer than in Chelidon ; 

 toes smaller and weaker ; some species with a small tuft of feathers above the 

 hind toe. 



767. Cotile riparia (Linn.), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 550; Selby, Br. 

 B. p. 125 ; Hume, Sir. F. 1880, p. 246; Oates, Sir. F. x. p. 184$ Dresser, 

 B, Eur. iii. p. 505 ; Oates, B. Br. Burm. i. p. 310. Hirundo riparia, Linn., 

 Syst. Nat. i. p. 344 ; Pall., Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. \. p. 535 ; Wilson, Amer. Orn. 

 v. p. 46; Gould, B. Eur. ii. pi. 58; Seebohm, Ibis, 1882, p. 372; id., Hist. 

 Brit. B. iii. p. 184. Cotyle riparia, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 971 ; Bp., Consp. Av. 

 i. p. 342 ; jferd., B. Ind. i. p. 163, No. 87 ; Hume, Sir. F. 1873, p. 164 ; 

 Butler, Sir, F. 1875, p. 452 ; Hume, Sir. F. 1875, p. 452 ; Blanf., East. 

 Pers. iii. p. 216; Butler, Sir. F. 1877, pp. 217, 227 ; Hume and Damson, 

 Sir. F. 1878, pp. 44, 497 '> Hume, Sir. F. 1879, p. 84 ; Bingham, t. c. p. 192 ; 

 Butler, Cat. B. Sind, &c. t p. 13; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 103. -The 

 EUROPEAN SAND MARTIN. 



