4 



The species was first named by Colonel Sykes, who writes : — " This species appeared 

 in millions in two successive years in the month of March on the parade-ground at 

 Poona ; they rested a clay or two only, and w r ere never seen in the same numbers 

 afterwards." 



Colonel Butler states that it is a resident throughout the Southern Bombay 

 Presidency and common throughout the region. 



In the South Konkan, according to Mr. Vidal, it is common and generally distri- 

 buted, breeding in the hot weather on the cliffs and under eaves of houses. 



The Bev. S. B. Fairbank procured the present species near Ahmednuggnr in 

 November, and Mr. Taylor says that he found it fairly common in the hill tracts of 

 Manzeerabad in Mysore. 



Mr. W. Davison states that this species is abundant on the Nilghiris, and is a 

 resident, breeding in the same places as Hirundo javanica, fixing its nest against the 

 roof of some deserted building or under some shelving rock, the nest, of course, being 

 retort- shaped. They generally breed several together, but not always, and sometimes 

 three or four nests are joined together. 



This species is common not only on the Nilghiris and their slopes, but also occurs 

 commonly through the Wynaad and the Mysore country abutting on the Nilghiris. 

 Captain Terry states that it w<as noticed by him at Pulungi in the Palani Hills in 

 April. 



Colonel Vincent Legge writes : — " This little Swallow only finds a place in the 

 avifauna of Ceylon as a straggler, and but two instances of its occurrence in the 

 island have been brought to my notice. Layard, the first to get it in Ceylon, writes 

 thus concerning it : — ' I found one of these birds in the village of Pt. Pedro in December; 

 it had probably been driven over from the opposite coast by stress of weather ; it w T as 

 hawking about the street. I fired at and wounded it, but it flew away. Next day it 

 was again in the same place, and I succeeded in killing it.' At this season of the 

 year the north wind, styled at Colombo the 'longshore wind,' brings many Indian 

 birds to our shores, and doubtless was the means of driving the present species 

 southward of its natural habitat ; but as it is an inhabitant of the Nilghiris and 

 other parts of the south of India, it is strange that it does not more frequently visit 

 Ceylon. In the second instance it was procured by Mr. Bligh on the Catton Estate in 

 April 1877." 



The following account of the nesting-habits of the present species is copied from 

 Mr. Oates's edition of Hume's ' Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds ' : — 



" Sykes's Striated Swallow, which is, as a rule, a permanent resident of the plains, 

 breeds, according to my experience, from April to August. 



" Typically the nest, which is usually affixed to the under surface of some ledge of 

 rock, or the roof of some cave or building, and which is constructed of fine pellets of mud 

 or clay, consists of a narrow tubular passage, like a white-ant gallery on a large scale, say 

 some 2 inches in diameter, and from 1 to 10 inches in length, terminating in a bulb-like 



