15 



rot till after tbe 1st of October. At other times I have seen it at Colombo in the middle 

 of September, and I observed it at Galle in 1872 on the 15th of that month. It 

 inhabits the whole of the low country, and likewise ascends into the hill districts to a 

 considerable elevation, bnt does not iuhalnt the higlier regions in any abnndance. It 

 leaves the island completely about the second week in Ajiril, quitting the southern 

 districts a week or two prior to that date. It is, I think, commoner on the west coast 

 than on the east." Mr. Parker also gives the following note from Ceylon : — " Arrives 

 at Tissa from Aug. 30 to Sept. 12th, and leaves at the end of April. These Swallows 

 sleep in immense numbers in the bulrushes there, arriving in flocks before dusk. Before 

 returning, they amuse themselves by rapid evolutions, high and low, in the air, sometimes 

 flying in a wide continuous band or ring over their sleeping-quarters. As it grows 

 dusk they suddenly drop into the rushes. Probably they come from great distances ; 

 very few are visible in the neighbourhood during the day." 



The curious phenomenon of the migration of the Swallows in the island is thus 

 chronicled by Mr. Bligh : — " At a rest-house about ten miles from Coslanda, where I was 

 detained on account of a ford being impassable, I was attracted by seeing several 

 Wagtails, M. melanope, on the top of a low bazaar building. Swallo^^•s then began to 

 arrive in flocks and commenced sweeping round over a small garden of native coffee. 1 

 called the rest-house keeper's attention to the birds and he told me that they came there 

 all the last cold season to roost in the coffee. The rest-house keeper sent a boy to 

 frighten up those that had settled ; they went up in a cloud and the rustling of their 

 tiny wings was distinctly heard by me a hundred yards off ; they rose in a cujiola-shaped 

 mass, and were as thick as bees in a swarm ; there must have been 30,000 or 10,000 birds 

 on the wing at that moment, the Wagtails forming, as I estimated, about a third or 

 fourth of that number. The boy w^as called away, and soon all the birds descended 

 before it was quite dark ; when settled, the Swallows kept up an incessant simnnn-iug 

 chirping for some time. The sight was a wonderful one ; at daylight the birds all 

 departed very quickly and quietly." 



From the British Museum collection it would seem that true Uirundo nistlca and 

 the intermediate form both reach Ceylon, but we have never seen a specimen of true 

 M. ffuttiiralis from that island. 



Mr. IJavison soys : — "This bird is common both at the Andamans and Xieol)ars; 

 during the day it may be I'ound luiAvking slowly aliout some shady spot, or sitting, 

 several together, on some dry branch or house-top. jS'ow and again one will stai't ell', take 

 a short irresolute flight and return to its perch: sometimes when one starts oil', it is 

 followed by others in rajnd succession ; at others all start off sinuiUaneously, and after 

 taking a more or less extended flight, return, each twittering as it aliglits. T have not 

 lound it breeding either at the Audanians or Xicobars, but I tliink it must do so. as I 

 found them as numerous as ever they were as late as ^lay." Tlu- sju'cimens in the Hume 

 collection show that not only II. ri(stica nnd II. fj/'/lin-dlis visit ihi- i-^lands. hut the 

 intermediate form is found there also. 



In Mr. Oates's edition of Mr. Hume's 'Nests and Err^'s (;f Imlian lairds' arc L,nvcn 



