Adult female. Similar in colour to the male. Total length 4-3 inches^ culmen 0-3, wing 4-1, tail 1-6, 

 tarsus 0'35. 



Young. Is distinguished from the adult by having pale rufous edges to the feathers of the lower back, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts. 



Hah. The greater part of the Indian Peninsula from the Nilghiri Hills northward to Kathiawar and 

 Cutch on the west, and extending northwards to Delhi, but apparently not crossing the Ganges, 

 nor visiting Lower Bengal. 



This is the Indian representative of the African C. fiiligtila, of which it is a small race. 

 It differs chiefly in its size, and also in the spotted throat ; but, as we have noticed above, 

 the throat and fore neck are sometimes quite uniform, and then there would be nothing 

 but the smaller dimensions of the Indian bird wherewith to distinguish it. 



The present species is widely distributed over the Peninsula of India, but does not 

 extend to Ceylon, nor does it reach Lower Bengal. It is not included in any list of birds 

 from Travancore, and its most southerly range seems to be the Nilghiri Hills. Here, 

 Mr. Davison says, it is " not uncommon during the cold weather, but very few remain 

 to breed. It is only found about rocky places, or their immediate vicinity. It occurs 

 from the level of the plains to as liigh up as Ootacamund." Dr. Jerdon writes : — " I 

 rarely saw it on the Malabar coast, but I procured it at Vellore and Seringapatam, in 

 both places breeding on the large fort walls ; also on rocky hills throughout the Carnatic 

 and table-land, and in Central India. I have also found its nest on a x'ock overhanging 

 the road on the Goodaloor Ghat of the Neilgherries, at about 4000 feet of elevation. It 

 also breeds occasionally in the eaves of lofty houses, and other largo buildings in the 

 Deccan, as I saw at Jaulna. It does not build in company, and is nowhere abundant in 

 individuals." 



Major Butler procured specimens at Belgaum in July, and these are in the Hume 

 collection. He considers it to be a permanent resident and common, as a rule, through- 

 out the southern Bombay presidency. Messrs. Davidson and Wendeu, in their paper on 

 the birds of tVie Deccan, whence came the original specimens described by Col. Sykes, 

 Avrite : — " In the Sholapoor districts it breeds in abundance in the rains and in 

 February. At Egutjjoora it was breeding in the verandah of the Engineers' bungalow 

 in the middle of March and first week in Ausjust. Procured at Lanoli on the 20th of 

 March." In the South Konkan Mr. Vidal has procured specimens at Bankot, Kelshi, 

 Harnai, Peve, Guhagar, and Katnagiri. He says it is " common on the coast, and for a 

 few miles inland. I have found nests on the cliffs in Eebruary, March, and April, and 

 under the eaves of a bungalow in August." The Hume collection contains a specimen 

 from Panchganj Ghat in the Mahabaleshwur Hills, procured in June 1874, and Mr. Eair- 

 bank says that it is common in the neighbourhood of Khandala. Mr. Sharpe noticed it on 

 the island of Elephauta, where he saw a specimen clinging to the arch which forms 

 the entrance to the celebrated rock-temple. Colonel Swinhoe and Lieut. Barnes state 



