42 A FIRST LIST OF THE 



Swallows generally : " These birds are very common ; they come 

 in sparingly in July, but by the 1st August they are to 

 be seen in immense quantities. They stay, some of them, till well 

 into May. I have never seen any indication of their nests in 

 Pegu ; but as they leave us for only two months, where can they 

 breed ? With regard to Tonghoo, the Rev. Dr. Mason writes 

 me as follows : ' Near the close of the rains in October last (1871) 

 they were seen about for a few days, but from that time to the 

 4th April none were seen ; on that day we had a squall and a 

 shower of rain, and they seemed to come in on the wings of the 

 wind; for the squall was in the afternoon, and the Swallows 

 filled my compound in the evening. From that time till the 

 1st May they were constantly about my compound, night and 

 morning. On 1st May we had a heavy shower and squall, as if 

 the rains were about to commence, and not a Swallow has been seen 

 here since. They went as they came on the wings of the wind/ ' : 

 Now, Ty fieri when it comes does, I understand, breed in Dacca, 

 so that I should not be surprised if these Thayetmyo birds 

 went to Dacca amongst other places to breed. The bird is a 

 very erratic one. This year at Tavoy it appeared in vast numbers 

 on the 25th April, but had disappeared by the 7th May. 



85 bis.— Cecropis nipalensis, Eodgs. 



Only one specimen, and that not an adult, is sent ; it is 

 therefore impossible to be certain what speoies this belongs 

 to. I am rather inclined to believe that it will prove to be 

 striolata of Temminck. The rump band is about an inch broad, 

 darker -colored than in nipalensis. The feathers rather con- 

 spicuously dark-shafted, much more so than in nipalensis. There is 

 no trace of a rufous collar ; but then the bird is a young one, and 

 the striations of the lower surface are better-marked than in 

 nipalensis ; on the other hand, striolata belongs to the Archipelago, 

 and one hardly expects to meet it in Thayetmyo. Besides the 

 points above mentioned I should notice that the lower tail coverts 

 are blackish, albescent towards their bases, and that the exterior 

 tail feathers have no traces of spots on either web. Mr. Oates 

 merely remarks : " I shot one on a tree in company with rustica. 

 I have not been able to identify it/' 



89.— Cotile sinensis, Gray. 



One specimen only, supposed to belong to this species, has 

 reached me from Mr. Oates. Two others were sent, but they were 

 entirely destroyed by insects. With only one indifferent specimen, 

 unsexed, and with no measurements recorded in the flesh, it is 

 impossible to arrive at any certain conclusion, but my impression 

 is that the Thayetmyo birds will have to be specifically separated. 



