THREE UNPUBLISHED PAPERS BY BLYTH. 331 



remarked inland in this country. The species which builds the 

 edible nests collected on the western coast of the Indian Penin- 

 sula, as in the group of small islands about eight miles west of 

 Vingorla (which is a little above Goa, and S75 miles from 

 Bombay), commonly known as the Vingorla Kocks, where about 

 1 cwt. of them are produced annually, remains to be ascer- 

 tained. 



C. NiDiFiCA ; Hirundo nidifica, Latham; H.fucijjhaga, apud 

 Shaw ; H. escidenta, apud Horsfield ; H. brevirostris, McClelland, 

 P. Z. S. 1839, p. 155 ; H. unicolor, Jerdon, Madr. Journ. xi. 238, 

 referred by that naturalist to Gypselus, ibid., xiii. 173, and termed 

 G. concolor, J. A. S. xi. 886 (there being a previously described 

 C. unicolor). Length, 4|- to 4f in., the middle tail-feathers 2 in., 

 and outermost fin. longer; wing, 4|- in. General colour fuscous- 

 brown, darker on the crown, wings and tail, which latter have a dull 

 gloss of steel-blue or green; below paler. From M. Hooyman's 

 description of this species we feel satisfied of the identity of the 

 Indian and Javanese birds, which some of the translated accounts 

 had rendered doubtful. 



This species, in India first observed in Assam, appears to be a 

 regular bird of passage at Darjeeling, where Capt. Tickell 

 observed flights of them commencing in August proceeding to 

 the S.W. Mr. Jerdon remarked it " on the Coonoor Pass of the 

 Nilgiris, and about the edges of the hills. It flies in large flocks 

 and with very great speed." Its nests remain to be discovered in 

 this countrj'. 



C. FUCiPHAGA ; Hirundo fuciphaga, Thunberg. A minute 

 species, about 32- in. in length by 9 in. in expanse ; the tail Ig- in. 

 and even ; wing, 3f in. Colour above blackish, green and purple 

 glossed ; below fuscous-brown, passing to white on the middle of 

 the belly, with whitish edges to the lower tail-coverts. A single 

 large feather, with a distinct supplementary plumelet, grows on 

 the hind toe, being nearly as long as the toe with its claw : this 

 is always normally present, but is often lost in dry specimens. 



This bird is the edible nest-builder of the Bay of Bengal, and 

 may prove to be exclusively a coast species, the nests of which 

 are of superior quality to those of C. nidifica ? In the extreme 

 east it is perhaps replaced by C. troglodytes of Mr. G. R. Gray. 

 The Eev. J. Barbe, from personal observation, notices it as 

 "common in the Archipelago of Mergui, the Nicobars, &c., 



