638 Mr. J. D. D. La Touche— Field-Notes on 



spots, and the surface-marks consist of very pale brown 

 spots of irregular shape. 



102. HlRUNDO NIPALENSIS HodgS. 



Hirundo alpestris Pall.; Styan, Ibis, 1891, p. 351. 



The Striped Swallows which summer at Chinkiang are 

 not distinguishable from specimens shot at Swatow, Amoy, 

 and Foochow. They arrive about the middle of April, and 

 are abundant in the country all through the summer and 

 also during September and October, when large flights may 

 be seen hawking over the fields or resting on the trees and 

 telegraph-wires. I have not noticed any after the first week 

 in November. 



These Swallows keep to the country, breeding in certain 

 villages near the hills on the north bank of the river. 

 I have never observed them about the mud-and-bamboo 

 thatched huts on the plain. They commence building 

 towards the end of April, and lay in May and June. Nests 

 seen by me in the native houses of a village on May 10 

 were not retort-shaped, but were closed structures with the 

 entrance-hole in front and about H in. in diameter. They 

 looked like bowls with the base knocked out. It may be 

 that they were not finished. Still one of them contained eggs, 

 a specimen of which, shown to me by the owner of the house, 

 was of a narrow ovate shape and pure white. I did not get 

 any eggs that season. The following year one of my collectors 

 brought me a number of clutches on May 31, June 2, 12, 

 and 28. Those brought on the last date were much incu- 

 bated, and had probably been taken from a deserted nest ; 

 some of the others were fresh or nearly fresh, while one or 

 two were much incubated. The eggs are all pure white, like 

 that seen by me as stated above. The full clutch, as a rule, 

 consists of four eggs, but one of those brought to me con- 

 tained five, and another had only three which were slightly 

 incubated. The most usual shape seems to be a narrow 

 ovate inclining to oval, but 1 have some specimens which 

 are cylindrical oval and some ovate with much pointed apex. 

 Thirty-one eggs average 0"82x0"56"; the longest measures 



