430 MR. E. L. LAYARD ON FIJIAN BIRDS. {June l, 
jection of rock. One nest only did we find in which the leaves, 
after completing the circle, had been allowed to hang from the front, 
forming a complete ‘beard.’ The nests of these Swifts at one place 
must have been fully 150 yards underground. Mr. Ryder assured 
me he had penetrated for another 100 yards, till he dared not go 
any further, as he arrived at a shelf with a very steep incline down- 
wards to an unknown depth; the Swifts were still nesting as far as 
he went. I was too much occupied in skinning doves to make 
another visit to the cave ; but I believe that these Swifts are night- 
fying birds, as I never saw any outside the caves until we disturbed 
them, and then they never ventured further than a couple of yards 
from the entrance. Mr. Hennings told me also that a bird he 
caught in the Katafango cave, when let loose in the house, kept 
flying against the furniture, as if blind. The neighbouring planters, 
too, say that they never saw the bird anywhere except in the caves. 
‘I did not visit Katafango, as I had found the same bird on two 
islands, and I did not consider it likely there would be another 
species on an island within sight of the other two. Moreover I had 
had enough of Fiji ‘ten-ton cutters’! There were also some very 
small bats in the cave. On Mango Island I procured specimens of 
Carpophaga latrans and C. pacifica, Columba vitiensis, Ptilinopus 
perousei, and P. fasciatus.” 
Mr. L. Layard’s notion of their being “ night-flying”’ birds is, of 
course, erroneous to a certain extent, as I see them every day flying 
in the sunshine ; but what instinct guides them to their nests in the 
dense darkness of the vast underground caverns in which they breed ? 
Mr. L. Layard brought two nests, composed entirely of the thread- 
like leaves of the Casuarina agglutinated together; diam. 2” 3", 
depth 1". They have evidently been glued on to shelving rocks, and 
in one the long filaments have only been fastened at one end, the 
other hanging down some 8 or 10 inches, like a “beard.’”’ The eggs 
are pure white, of an obtuse oval; axis 8”, diam. 6”. 
CoLLOCALIA VANICORENSIS(Quoy et Gaim.); F. & H. op. cit. p.47. 
Non vidi. 
Hirunpvo Tauitica (Gmel.); F. & H. op. cit. p. 51. 
This Swallow is very local, but, I think, widely spread throughout 
the islands. It is said to nest in rocks ; and I feel confident a pair 
nested this year in the cracks and crannies of ‘‘ Brewer’s Rock,”’ as 
they were visible almost every evening during my residence in my 
present house, flitting over the little point of land on the other side 
of the creek, and in front of my veranda. They are very crepus- 
cular in their habits. I saw them in the hills as far up the Rewa 
river as Naruku-ruku, mingled with the Swifts also at Kandavu, 
Loma Loma, and Taviuni. 
Bill black ; legs black. Ivis dark brown. Feed on minute insects. 
ZOSTE”.OPS FLAVICEPS, Peale; F. & H. op. cit. p. 52. 
This little ‘‘ White-eye,” called “‘Gingi”’ by the natives, is gene- 
