008 MR. A. LOVERIDQE : NOTES ON 



A nestling found dead beneath this nest (18. i, 22). The two 

 remaining young ones found dead beneath nest this afternoon. 

 'Phey appear to liave been dead some time ; one had congealed 

 blood xjpon its back. I surmise that they were killed by the 

 swallow which entered the nest some days ago and caused such a 

 commotion, and they have been thrown out of the nest by their 

 parents(19. i. 22). 



About this time there was a fresh egg lying broken beneath 

 nest (1. ii. 22). The tuniiel and anterior third of the nest have 

 been broken down, so I have removed the rest (3. xi. 22). I 

 revisited this house after an absence of some six montlis and 

 found that these persevering birds had rebuilt the nest, which had 

 also fallen down again and again to judge by the d6bris beneath. 

 Their ellbrts ha<l at last been crowned with success, as I picked up 

 a fledgling twenty feet away. It rested qiiietly on my hand until 

 its parents came sweeping around with encouraging cries, where- 

 upon it flew for fiftv yards with them flying around it all the 

 time(31.xii. 22). 



There is another nest of this species in which, the tunnel 

 having been broken off, a pair of Swifts (C. affinis) built their 

 feather and straw nest on to that of the swallows. My attention 

 was drawn to this nest by a pair of sparrows hanging to the 

 outside and screaming ! Beneath the nest Avas a freshly-broken 

 sparrow's egg, and inside the nest was a hen swift with enlarged 

 ovules, ready to lay perhaps in a week's time (5. v. 22). A month 

 or so later a swift's egg was found bi'oken beneath this nest. 

 Continual disputes between the sparrows and the swifts take 

 place. 



A Northern Stripe-breasted Swallow was found sitting on two 

 eggs (Sl.xii. 22). Another nest, which has been a long time 

 in building, hatched out young to-day (7. i. 23). These young 

 when disturbed at night by a light make a noise not unlike that 

 of a Square -marked Toad, and most unbirdlike. Another neat ; 

 hatched eggshell found beneath (5. iii. 23). 



OYPSELIDiE. 



Apus apfinis Gray. 



As many scores of Square-tailed White-rumped Swifts were 

 flying about tlie boma and in and out of their nests, I examined 

 dozen of the latter. They were all empty and, I believe, unlined 

 {Kilosa, 4. vii. 22). A broken egg lying beneath a nest may have 

 been there for a couple of months whilst I have been away. 

 Some natives drew my attention to a swift caught in the web of a 

 spider (Nepltila sp.) some three feet below the guttering and two 

 feet from the wall and fully thirty feet from the ground. The 

 bii'd was perfectly helpless, spinning roiuid and round in space. 

 On getting it down, its feet were found to be lirmly bound to the 

 body by the viscid web, and it was so wrapped in webbing that I 

 thought it best to chloroform it. Male. Testes small (Kilosa, 

 le.xii. 22). 



