contained three eggs each, and more than half of them hard-set, so that I should say the 

 bird breeds about Delhi in April and May.' 



" Mr. Benjamin Aitken tells us that he has ' observed the nidification of the Wire- 

 tailed Swallow only on the river at Akola. One pair had a nest on the 23rd December, 

 1869, but I did not examine it. On the 7th of January (1870) another pair were 

 building a nest. Three eggs were taken from a nest in the beginning of February, 1870. 

 The birds at once began a new nest against a rock a few yards off from the first place, 

 and successfully reared three young. On the 26th July, 1870, I made a note that the 

 "Wire-tailed Swallow had almost disappeared from Akola ; they had been common on the 

 river in the dry season.' 



" Colonel Butler says : — ' I found a nest of the Wire-tailed Swallow at Deesa on the 

 10th August, 1875, fastened to the brickwork of a well, but could not ascertain its 

 contents, as I could not induce any of my coolies to go down and take it. I took 

 another nest out of the same well on the 11th August the following year (1876) contain- 

 ing two eggs very slightly incubated. It was a half-cup, built of mud and thickly lined 

 with, feathers, and fastened to the brickwork under an overhanging ledge of stone. I 

 have often found the nest under bridges overhanging the water, and in holes of rocks with 

 a similar aspect.' Writing subsequently from Sind, he further says : — 'Hydrdbad, Sind, 

 9th June, 1878. A nest under an archway over a canal, containing two fresh eggs. 

 Another nest in a well on the 12th June, containing three fresh eggs. Two more nests 

 under archways over canals on the 20tb, each containing three fresh eggs ; and any 

 number of other nests in the same neighbourhood, and in the Eastern Narra in similar 

 situations.' 



"Messrs. Davidson and Wenden, writing from the Deccan, remark: — 'Common 

 and breeds.' 



" Lieut. H. E. Barnes, writing of Bajputana in general, says : — " The Wire-tailed 

 Swallow, to my mind the handsomest of the Hirundines, breeds from the latter part of 

 February to April, and again in August and September.' " 



For the geographical distribution of this sjjecies, vide infra, Plate 80 [Map]. 



HIRUND0 GRISEOPYGA [«•** p. 886]. 



Add :— 



Rirundo griseopyga, Sharpe & Wyatt, Monogr. Hirund. pt. iv. (1886) ; Beichen. 

 J. f. O. 1887, p. 62; Emin, J. f. 0. 1891, p. 310 ; Bocage, Jorn. Sc. Lisb. (2) viii. 

 p. 258 (1892) ; Beichen. J. f. O. 1892, p. 31. 



Dr. Fischer, on his last journey to the Victoria Nyanza, procured this species at Wasehi, 

 on the east side of the lake, on the 20th of January. Emin Pasha also met with it at 

 Bussisi in October. 



For the geographical distribution of this species, vide infra, Plate SI [Map]. 



1e2 



