168 Mr. E. L. Layard on ilie Ornithology of Ceylon. 



feather edged with white, causing the bird to appear as if covered 

 with scales. 



40. CoLLocALiA BREviRosTRis, McClelland. 



Having fully described my acquaintance with these birds in a 

 letter to my friend Mr. Blyth, I cannot do better than copy what 

 I then wrote, adding his remarks and the result of my subsequent 

 inquiries. " I have at last visited the cave in which Collocalia 

 nidifica builds, and will now, with the aid of my journal, give all 

 the information I can, sending you birds skinned and in spirit, 

 and a young nestling taken from the nest with my own hand. The 

 cave is situated at a place called Havissay, about thirty-five miles 

 from the sea, and twenty from the river, and about 500 feet up 

 a fine wood-clad hill called Diagallagoolawa, or Hoonoomoo- 

 loocota. Its dimensions are as follows : — length between 50 and 

 60 feet, about 35 broad, and 20 high. It is a mass of limestone 

 rock, which has cracked off the hill side and slipped down on to 

 some boulders below its oi-iginal position, forming a hollow tri- 

 angle. There are thi-ee entrances to the cave, one at each end, 

 and one very small in the centre. The floor consists of large 

 boulders, covered, to the depth of 2 or 3 inches, with the drop- 

 pings of the birds, old and young, and the bits of grass they 

 bring in to fabricate their nests. The only light which penetrates 

 the cavern from the entrances above-mentioned is very dim ; 

 when my eyes, however, got accustomed to the light, I could see 

 many hundreds of nests glued to the side of the fallen rock, but 

 none to the other side, or hill itself. This I attribute to the fact of 

 the face of the main rock being evidently subject to the influence 

 of the weather, and pei'haps even to the heavy dews ofi" the trees ; 

 but for this the side in question would have been far more con- 

 venient for the birds to have built on, as it sloped gently outward, 

 whereas the other was much overhung and caused the birds to 

 build their nests of an awkward shape, besides taking up more 

 substance. I was at the spot a few days before Christmas, and 

 fancy that must be about the time to see the nests in perfection. 

 This is corroborated by the fact of my finding young birds in all 

 the nests taken by me, and by what the old Chinaman* said, that 

 the 'take' came on in October. I find that they have three 

 different qualities of nests, and send two for your inspection ; 

 the best is very clean, white as snow and thin, and is also very 

 expensive. The most inferior are composed of dry grasses, hair, 

 &c., but I could not detect anything like the bloody secretion as 

 described ('though only under peculiar circumstances of ex- 

 haustion ') by Mr. Barbe, even in a fresh nest. I was in the 



* Alluded to in a previous letter. 



