THE MALAYAN CRESTED TREE-SWIFT. 13 



what local, being extremely common in some places and entirely absent 

 in others. I have generally found it in large flocks flying about with great 

 speed and frequently resting on the branches of dead trees. It makes a 

 remarkably tiny nest of bits of bark and feathers glued together with 

 saliva, and placed on the side of a horizontal branch. The nest is so 

 minute, that when the bird is sitting it cannot be seen, and the bird 

 appears to be mer.ely perching on the branch. Only one egg is laid, and it 

 is white. The breeding-season in Burmah is probably from April to June. 



411. MACROPTERYX LONGIPENNIS. 

 THE MALAYAN CRESTED TREE-SWIFT. 



Hirundo longipennis, Rafin. Soc. Philom. Bull iii. 1802, p. 153. Hirundo 

 klecho, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 143. Cypselus longipennis, Temm. 

 PI. Col. 83. fig. 1 (descr. orig.). Dendrochelidon klecho, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1865, 

 p. 616; Kelham, Ibis, 1881, p. 374. Dendrochelidon longipennis, Salvad. 

 Ucc. Bom. p. 122 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 52 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 85. 



Description. Male. Forehead, crown and upper wing-coverts metallic 

 green, each feather more or less edged with deep blue ; nape, sides of the 

 neck, scapulars and the back metallic green, each feather obsoletely 

 margined with blue ; rump, the shorter upper tail-coverts and the tips of 

 the scapulars grey ; the longer upper tail-coverts greenish brown ; lores 

 and cheeks black ; ear-coverts chestnut ; chin, throat, breast, upper 

 abdomen and sides of the body grey, rather darker than the rump ; lower 

 abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts white; quills brown, suffused with 

 blue ; the tertiaries whitish ; tail greenish at the base, blue elsewhere. 

 Specimens vary much in the amount of blue on the head and wings; in 

 some the blue is entirely absent. The tail and wings also vary ; in some 

 green predominates, in others blue. 



The female differs in having the ear-coverts not chestnut, but a greenish 

 brown. 



The young appear to have the greater part of the upper plumage tipped 

 with white. 



Length 9 inches, tail 4'5, wing 6'5, tarsus ! 4, bill from gape '7. The 

 female appears to be of the same size. 



The Malayan Crested Tree-Swift occurs in Tenasserim from the 

 southernmost point up to Mergui and Nwalabo mountain. 



It extends down the Malay peninsula, arid is found in the islands of 

 Sumatra, Java, Bangka and Borneo. 



This species is an inhabitant of the forests. Like the preceding, it 



