158 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



difference, and certainly none in the form of the bill, which is said 

 to be longer and more acute in the Indian birds. Bonaparte, 

 Gray, and Horsfield, however, still keep them distinct. 



The common Swallow of England is found over the whole 

 continent of India and Ceylon, but is only a cold-weather 

 visitant, leaving the South of India towards the end of March, 

 but lingering in the North till May. The birds that visit India 

 probably breed in the central and northern portions of Eastern 

 Asia. They are found more or less over the whole continent of 

 India, in some places only a few, in other spots in vast numbers. 

 They often settle on the ground, or on a bare tree, and on the Tele- 

 graph wires. I have not observed or heard of its breeding in any 

 part of India, but in the neighbourhood of Darjeeling I have seen 

 a pair or two frequenting the same spot under the roof of a native 

 hut, always returning to it after flight, so that I suspected they 

 might be going to build there. Adams says that they breed in 

 Cashmere. Captain Hutton found them breeding in Candahar. 



The Swallow extends through Assam, Burmah, and Malayana, to 

 the Islands, and also to China and the Philippines, and, according to 

 the season, indeed, is found over all Europe, Asia, and Africa. In 

 Upper Burmah it comes in early in July, the first birds streaming 

 continuously south for some days, till near the end of the month, when 

 a few remained stationary at Thayetmyo. In India, I have never 

 seen them till towards the end of September, and those birds that 

 come so early to the Burmese provinces must breed at no great 

 distance, probably in the southern provinces of China. 



B. With shorter subfurcate tail. 



83. Hirundo Domicola, Jerdon. 



Suppl. Cat., Birds, 261— Blyth, Cat. 1196— Hoesf., Cat. 620. 



The Neilgheery House Swallow. 



Dcscr. — Above, glossy blue-black, duller on the wings and tail ; 

 all the tail feathers, except the centre ones, with an oval white spot 

 on the inner web ; forehead, chin, throat, and upper part of breast, 

 ferruginous ; the lower parts cinereous brown, passint^ to black on 

 the lower tail coverts, which arc white-tipped. 



