12 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Genus MACROPTERYX, Swains* 



410. MACEOPTERYX CORONATUS. 

 THE INDIAN CRESTED TREE-SWIFT. 



Hirundo coronata, Tick. J. A. S. B. ii. p. 580, xv. p. 21. Dendrochelidon 

 coronata, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 617 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 185 ; Hume, Nests 

 and Eggs, p. 92 ; id. S. F. iii. p. 45 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 51 ; Legge, Birds 

 Ceylon, p. 328 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 85 ; Parker, S. F. ix. p. 476. Macro- 

 pteryx coronatus, Bl. B. Burm. p. 86 ; Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 458. 



Description. Male. Lores and a narrow space round the eye black ; a 

 very narrow and indistinct line over the eye white ; chin, moustache and ear- 

 coverts chestnut ; the whole upper plumage and the sides of the neck ashy, 

 tinged with metallic green on the forehead, crown and the longer upper 

 tail-coverts ; lower plumage paler ashy, turning to white on the abdomen, 

 vent and under tail-coverts ; wing-coverts metallic blue ; quills brown, 

 suffused with bluish green; tertiaries albescent; tail metallic greenish 

 brown. 



The female differs in having no chestnut whatever on the head, the ear- 

 coverts being dark brown, and the chin and moustache ashy like the 

 throat. 



Bill black; mouth flesh-colour; eyelids plumbeous; iris dark brown; 

 legs pinkish brown ; claws black. In some the iris is reddish hazel. 



Length 9 inches, tail 5 '2, wing 6' 3, tarsus '3, bill from gape '8. The 

 female is of the same size. 



The Indian Crested Tree- Swift is spread over the whole of British 

 Burmah, except the southern portion of Tenasserim, where it has not yet 

 been met with. Capt. Bingham states that it is common in the Thoung- 

 yeen valley, and Capt Wardlaw Ramsay met with it in Karennee. It is 

 abundant over the whole of Pegu and probably also in Arrakan, and 

 appears to be resident. 



It occurs in Siam, but not, so far as is at present known, in the Malay 

 peninsula. It is probably a resident in all the Indo-Burmese countries. 

 It is recorded from numerous localities in India, and it extends into 

 Ceylon. 



This Swift is confined to forests and well-wooded localities. It is some- 



* The name Dendrochelidon is said to have been given by Boie to these Tree-Swifts 

 in the ' Isis ' for 1828. I have carefully searched this volume for it, but unsuccessfully. 

 Mr. Gray (Gen. Birds, i. p. 54) also states that he has been unable to find the place where 

 this name was given. In the ' Isis ' for 1844, Boie assigns the date of 1832 to the genus, 

 but without referring the reader to the work in which it was described. 



