486 



NOTES ON ANDAMAN BIRDS, 



WITH ACCOUNTS OF THE NIDIFICATION OF SEVERAL 



SPECIES WHOSE NESTS AND EGGS HAVE NOT 



BEEN HITHERTO DESCRIBED. 



By 



B. B. Osmaston, I.F.S. 

 Part II. 

 {Continued from page 163 of this Volume) 



1078. Chcetura indica.— The Brown-necked Spine-tail. 



Common near the top of Mount Harriet. Breeding place unknown. 

 1084. Collocalia francica.— The Little Grey-rum ped Swiftlet. 



Colonies of this swiftlet breed in caves by the shore on South Bulton, Niell, 

 Chiruja tapu and other islands. On March 18th I visited such a cave on the 

 South Cinque Island. The floor of the cave was just above high water level, 

 and the concave surface of the roof was about 10 feet from the ground, and 

 was covered with freshly-built nests. These nests are the best edible variety 

 of commerce. They are white, opaque and translucent, and consist of 

 inspissated saliva with little or no extraneous matter. They are more or less 

 half-cupshaped, and they weigh about half an ounce each. The cave I am 

 describing is a small one, only about 12 feet long by 6 feet broad, and it con- 

 tained about 100 nests. Most of the nests contained 2 fresh eggs. There 

 were a few large active crabs moving about among the nests in the roof, which 

 did not appear to interfere with the eggs, though possibly they may destroy 

 the freshly hatched young. 



The eggs are long ovals, with little or no gloss. 



Length 0*73" to 0'85". Breadth, 0\52" to 0'55". Average of 20 eggs, 0-80" 



X 0-54". 



1085. Collocalia Unclii. — Horsfield's Swiftlet. 



This is the commonest swiftlet in the Andamans, being found almost every- 

 where. It breeds in vast numbers in the saw mills on Chatham, as well as 

 in various caves along the seashore, e. g. at Chiruja tapu. The nests are com- 

 posed of moss, consolidated with small quantities of mucilaginous saliva. In 

 the Chatham saw mills, however, moss is not used, but casuarina leaves and 

 sometimes cocoanut fibre instead. Neither the casuarina tree nor the cocoanut 

 palm is indigenous in the Andamans. The nests of this species are of no value 

 for commercial purposes on account of the large proportion of extraneous 

 matter they contain. The average weight of a nest is one-sixth oz. The eggs — 

 two in number— are laid chiefly in February and March. 



Length, 0-61" to 0*75". Breadth 0'41" to 0-46". Average of. 24 eggs, 0-69" x 

 0-44". 



1094. Caprimulgus andamanicus. — The Andaman Nightjar. 

 Not uncommon in suitable places, especially in dry hilly jungle. The note 

 of this bird is a " chuck, chuck, chuck , , , " repeated fairly rapidly. 



