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the following notes on the breeding-range of tbe Swallow in India, and we believe tbat 

 in every case tbe true //. rustica is intended : — " A few of tbe Common Swallows breed 

 during April and May along the wbole line of tbe Himalayas, from Cabool to Assam, at 

 beigbts of from JLOOO to 7000 feet. Rarely more>tban one or two pairs are found, as far 

 as my experience goes, breeding in tbe same immediate neighbourbood anywbere to the 

 eastward of Cashmere, and, indeed, eastwards of this happy valley it is only here and there 

 that thev are met with. I myself have only seen them breeding near Dburumsala, at 

 two or three bungaloAvs between Sooltanpoor in Kooloo and Simla, and at Simla 

 itself. Cai)t. Cock first pointed out to me tbat they bred near Dburumsala, where 

 he procured their eggs. From Murree I have received a nest, eggs, and both parents ; 

 from Almorab a single egg. Mr. Masson tells me be once noticed a pair building near 



Darjeeling In Cashmere they breed more numerously, from all I can learn, than 



in any other part of tbe Himalayas. In Candahar, as Capt. Hutton tells us, they breed 

 abundantly. On the wbole, it would appear that, while a comparatively small number 

 breed here and there everywhere along tbe southern face of the Himalayas, the great 

 majority of tbe vast numbers that during the cold season throng the neighbourhoods of our 

 j heels and ponds seek Cashmere and other more vv^esterly localities to rear their young. 



"Tbe nests tbat I have seen resembled much those of tbe Wire-tailed Swallow, but 

 were deeper and had tbe pellets of which they were composed larger and a good deal 

 mino'led with grass &c. Tbe nest sent me from Murree is a very perfect, rather deep, 

 half-saucer ; two that I foumd containing young ones, fixed in tbe corners of verandahs, 

 were mere quarters of very Avide and shallow dishes ; another, in a tiny niche in a beam, 

 was a mere mud screen, shutting in the lower half of the niche, with a few mud pellets 

 inside, apparently to round off the corners. All consisted exteriorly of pellets composed 

 of mud, more or less miugled with dry fir-needles, straw, and the like — a coarser and far 

 less tidy structure than that of tbe Wire-tailed Swallow. Interiorly tbe lining appeared 

 to be chiefly soft feathers ; but there was a little fine grass, and in one some grey, very 

 soft fur, which I could not make out. There were four eggs, slightly incubated, in the 

 Murree nest ; but I believe they sometimes lay six. 



" From Sikbim, Mr. Gammie writes : — ' The Common Swallow arrives in this district 



in the beginning of February, and remains till the end of October. They commence 



building about the end of March, and place their nests in coolie-sheds, stables, outhouses, 



or open verandahs. The nest is the usual mud structure, thickly lined with soft feathers. 



As tbe soil there is not very adhesive, it is mixed with a good deal of grass. In the 



stable at Ptungbee, six or eight pairs used to breed regularly ; and tbe Syces, who took 



an interest in them, used to fix up small boards here and there, at angles with the roof, 



on which the Swallows readily built. When undisturbed they get very tame, and I have 



seen a pair coolly feeding their young on the nest when tbe heads of four Europeans 



were within a foot of it. After ministering to the wants of their family, they would 



perch within a yard of tbe spectators, and give them a jsleasant little song. They breed 



at least twice in the season, and, I think, occasionally three times. On the 29tb of April 



I took a nest containing five bard-set eggs out of a kutcha bungalow, and on visiting the 



