86 CYPSELINJ5. 



Cypsellus affinis, J. E. Gr. 



100. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 177; Butler, Deccan"' 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 379 ; Guzerat, Stray Feathers, Vol. 

 Ill, p. 454 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoo'ogy of Sind, p. 105 ; 

 Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 60. 



THE COMMON INDIAN SWIFT. 

 Ababil, Hin. 



Length, 55; extent, 12 ; winor, 5 ; tail, 1*75. 



Bill black ; irides deep brown, feet dusky. 



Above brown-black, darkest on the back, and glossed with 

 green ; head brownish, paler on the forehead ; cjnn^^^hroat, 

 anolrump white ; rest of body beneath brownish-black ; the tail 

 is~~nearly even, with the feathers not pointed. 



The Common Indian Swift is abundant throughout the whole 

 district, and is a permanent resident ; it has at least two broods 

 in the 3 7 ear, and eggs may be taken, I believe, the whole year 

 through. They are very accommodating in the choice of nesting 

 sites, and I have found them in all the following places : 



In holes in the faces of old walls, mosques, and forts ; in these 

 cases the nests are detached, unless the hole happens to be large 

 enough to contain more than one. 



On the roofs of caves, they occur in large clusters, containing 

 over fifty or a hundred nests. 



Under the eaves of houses, tombs, &c., several nests are found 

 together, with a few detached ones. 



' {X*J^ In the doorways and roofs of stables, or between closely set 

 beams or rafters. 



I never saw so many nests as at Hyderabad, Sind, where 

 the favorite nesting place seemed to be under the roofs of 

 the domed canopies that are built over the Mirs' tombs ; 

 almost every one of them had an immense cluster or congeries 

 of nests affixed round the central portion of the dome ; these 

 nests are composed of agglutinated saliva of the birds, mixed 

 with feathers and occasional straws ; they are of every conceiv- 

 able shape and size, so as to fit in with each other. 



The eggs, two or three in number, are elongated ovals, and 

 glossless white in color; they vary considerably in size, but 

 average 0'87 by 0'57 inches. 



Cypsellus leuconyx, Btyth. 



101. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 179 ; Butler, Deccan 



and South Mahratta Countrv; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, 



p. 379. 



THE WHITE-CLAWED SWIFT. 



Length, 6'25 ; tail, 2'5 ; wing, 675. 



Feet small ; claws white, or more or less so. 



Very similar in color to the last ; above glossy blackish-brown, 

 darkest on the head ; the rump white ; beneath the chin and 



