376 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



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 perhaps to the heavy dews off the trees ; but for this, the 

 side in question would have been far more convenient 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. 1 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 find- 

 ing 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 quali- 

 ties of nests, and send two for your in- 

 spection. The best is very clean, white as 

 snow, and thin, and is also very expen- 

 sive. 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 exhaustion ') by Mr. 

 Barbe, even in a fresh nest. I was in the 

 cave late (after 5 P.M.) in the evening of 

 a day which threatened rain, but the old 

 birds were still flying round the summit 

 of the mountain at a vast altitude, occa- 

 sionally dashing down into the cave with 

 food for their nestlings. By daylight 

 next morning I was on foot, but the birds 

 were before me, hawking on the plain 

 below and all about the hills. I have 

 found the birds here, in Colombo, in 

 Kandy, and all along the road we went. 

 I could learn nothing of the number of 

 eggs laid, nor of their colour. I found 

 one bird in 



each nest. The Chinese who 

 live on the spot pretend not to understand 

 anything asked them, and the apathetic 

 Cingalese have never taken the trouble 

 information. The aspect of the country, 

 I saw flying round the various hills, 

 One, however, was pointed 



WHITE-THKOATED SPINE-TAILED SWIFT. 



to see for themselves, so they could give me no 



broken and rugged, coupled with the numeixnis flocks of birds 



leads me to think there must be many breeding-places yet undiscovered. 



out, but we had not time to visit it. I could not hear of any other kind of Swift breeding there, 



but have just received such information as leads me to suppose that C. fuciphaya builds near Jaffna 



on some rocks overhanging the sea. I may further add that there were no Bats in the cave with 



(7. nidifica. nor did I see any bird of prey, save a fine Hwmatornis, which I shot. The Cingalese name 



/or C. nidifica is WaJdit-na." 



THE TWELFTH FAMILY OF THE FISSTROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS. THE 

 HUMMING BIRDS (Troclnlida) . 



These exquisite little creatures are perhaps the largest family of birds known, numbering, at the 

 present day, nearly five hundred species. It is simply impossible in a work like the present to do 



