604 MR. P. L. SCLATER ON THE [June 27; 
C. galileensis, Ant. Naumann. v. p. 307, et Cat. p. 24; Tristram, 
P. Z. S. 1864, p. 431. 
Supra fusco-niger : dorso nigro, eneo tincto: pileo fuscescente, 
fronte dilatiore: subtus fuscescenti-niger, gula alba: long. 
tota 4:5, ale 5:0, caude 1°8. 
Hab. India, generally distributed, and Ceylon (Jerdon) ; Kurra- 
chee (Mus. Brit.); Palestine, Jordan valley (Ant. § Tristram) ; 
Abyssinia (H. § Ehr.); Sennaar, on the Blue Nile (Antinor‘) ; 
Western Africa, St. Thomas (/Zartl.) ; Cape (Mus. Brit.). 
This Swift, as I have pointed out (Ibis, 1865, p. 234), appears to 
be a very widely distributed species, and one in which the plumage 
varies greatly in inteusity of colouring, without presenting any con- 
stant differences. 
Indian skins differ amongst themselves in depth of tint, some 
being of a much more brownish black than others. A specimen in 
Mr. Gould’s collection, obtained by Captain Burgess in the Deccan, 
is quite undistinguishable from Mr. Tristram’s Palestine skins, which 
are of the darker type. Dr. Cabanis has kindly compared one of 
the Palestine birds with the type of C. abessynicus in the Berlin 
Museum, and pronounces them identical. I have examined the 
specimen from St. Thomas, mentioned by Hartlaub (West. Afr. 
p. 24), and can see little distinction, except that the Palestine bird 
presents a whitish front and superciliaries, which, however, are quite 
apparent in other African specimens. 
In India this Swift builds in colonies ‘“ wherever there are large 
towns, large pagodas, tombs, or other old buildings. Their nests 
are composed of feathers, grass, straw, &c., agglutinated together by 
the secreted mucus of their salivary glands” (Jerdon). It also oc- 
casionally breeds in rocks, in India, and in the Jordan valley appears 
to follow this practice exclusively, sometimes appropriating the nest 
of Hirundo rufula and completing it after its own fashion. See 
Mr. Tristram’s interesting notes in these ‘ Proceedings’ (1864, 
p- 131) and in ‘The Ibis’ (1865, p. 76 e¢ seq.). 
B. Species American (Tachornis, Gosse). 
Mr. Gosse has proposed the name Tachornis for his Tachornis 
phenicobia. But I do not see how this bird differs from the weaker 
species of the genus Cypselus of the Old World, and for the present 
I am inclined to keep the Neotropical members of the group under 
the same generic designation. 
13. CypsELUS PH@NICOBIUS. 
Tachornis phenicobia, Gosse, B. Jamaica, p. 58; ejusd. Ill. B. 
Jam. pl. 9; Gundlach, Journ. f. Orn. 1856, p. 5. 
Cypselus iradii, Lembeye, Av. de Cuba, t. 7. f. 4. 
Niger, alis fuscescentioribus : uropygti fascia lata cum gutture 
toto et ventre medio albis: cauda paulum furcata: long. tota 
4:0, ale 4:0, caude@ rectr. ext. 1°7, med. 1:4. 
Hab. Jamaica and Cuba. 
