178 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



This is the most abundant and universally spread Swift in India ; 

 but at the same time it is often very locally distributed, so as to have 

 caused Col. Sykes to remark " so rare in the Deccan that I have 

 only obtained two specimens." It is found from the Himalayas to 

 the extreme South, and from Calcutta to Scinde and the Punjab ; 

 but you may pass over large tracts of country without seeing one. 

 In Ceylon it is said to be migratory. As mentioned in my Cata- 

 logue, I on one occasion traversed the whole table-land of Southern 

 India, from the Tapoor Pass, near Salem, to Jalnah, near the northern 

 termination of this great plateau, and only saw it twice, and then in 

 small numbers. As a general rule, however, wherever there are 

 large towns, large pagodas, tombs, or other old buildings, you are 

 pretty sure to find a colony, larger or smaller, of this Swift. In 

 wooded and hilly coimtries it is occasionally seen about rocks, where 

 it breeds. I saw a few on a cliff on the Neilgherries, which, compar- 

 ing by mistake with an allied species, I thought to be a new and 

 smaller kind. It does not usually take a long range from 

 its breeding-places, always returning at night to roost in them. 

 It is a noisy bird, especially just before or about their breed- 

 ing time, rushing into and out of their nests, circling round 

 for a short distance, and screaming incessantly with a rather 

 sharp cry. 



The Indian Swifts breed always in company, in colonies of 

 various numbers. Their nests are composed of feathers, grass, 

 straw, cotton-rags, sometimes pieces of paper, agglutinated firmly 

 tof^ether by the secreted mucus of their salivary glands, occasion- 

 ally, perhaps, mixed with mud and rubbish. The inside of the nest 

 is hard, glistening and smooth, and feels, says Theobald, " like coarse 

 card-board." They vary much in shape : sometimes, a first year's nest 

 is open at the top ; but they are usually closed, and communicating 

 by the side ; at times of moderate size, at other times very large, 

 and communicating by a sort of tubular neck. They are very 

 solid and heavy, and often closely packed together. They are 

 built against the rafters or beams, under the roofs of huts and 

 houses, in the corners of old stone buildings, and in verandahs, 

 either inside or outside, if there is protection from sun and rain. 

 Various observers describe the nest as somewhat differently 



