CH^TUEA GIGANTEA. 315 



whity brown, of variable paleness, blending into the surrounding green ; inner margins of quills and tertials 

 light mauve-brown, palest on the latter ; shafts of tail-feathers blackish brown. 

 Lores intense black, between which and the nostril there is a whitish or whity-brown spot : throat a corresponding 

 pale colour — that is, lightest in those birds which have the palest frontal spots ; beneath umber-brown, glossed 

 obscurely with green, and blending gradually on the throat into the pale hue of the chin ; under tail-coverts and 

 a broad streak leading from them above the flank to opposite the centre of the back white ; shafts of under tail- 

 coverts black ; under wing-coverts pale mouse-brown. 



Young. Immature birds have the frontal patches scarcely discernible, the head browner than the adult, the back 

 darker, and the under surface less suffused with green. 



Obs. This Swift is variable in the pale markings about the face and chin, in the light hue of the back, and in the 

 extent of the blue gloss on. the upper plumage. I have examined a series from Labuan, Malacca, Singapore, and 

 South India, and I find that the dark-backed birds, which are evidently not fully aged, have the chin and loral 

 spots of a correspondingly dark hue. Mr. Hume has separated the Indian birds as C. indica, on account of 

 their more pronounced white chin and frontal patches, as distinguished from what he considers to be true 

 C. gigantea from Java, without the white chin. If the t} r pe from this island had not the whitish markings it 

 must have been, in all probability, an immature bird. Temminck's plate shows no white nostril-patches ; but in 

 those days artists were not particular. 



I am not conversant enough with Indian specimens to say whether thej' never show an absence of the white patches either 

 as young birds or as individuals ; but those from all other quarters, as I have just remarked, vary in this respect. 

 Birds from each end of the geographical limit of the species, viz. from India and Celebes, have the white spots 

 alike, which argues in favour of there being but one species. Two examples from Labuan measure 8-1 and 

 8*2 inches in the wing ; one is a dark -backed bird, the other a light one, and the chin and forehead tally with 

 the back in each : two from Malacca measure 8-1 and 7 - 9 inches in the wing ; one has a dark back and no loral 

 spot, the other is slightly paler and has an indication of the light patches. One from Singapore measures 

 7'9 inches, has a very dark back, no frontal patches, and a dull brown under surface ; it is evidently a young bird. 

 Another from the Nilghiris is entirely a pale bird, with light chin- and nostril-spots. Lord Tweeddale finds that 

 adolescent examples from the Andamans agree with Malaccan ones in his collection. 



Distribution. — The Brown-necked Spine-tail is a resident in the Ceylon hills, wandering at uncertain 

 times during its day's pereginations over the whole island. In the upper ranges it is most often seen 

 frequenting the Horton, Nuwara-Elliya, Kandapolla, and Elephant Plains, over which it dashes at one 

 moment, while at the next it sweeps round the adjacent hills in its headlong course. It is frequently noticed 

 in the coffee-estates in the surrounding districts. Mr. Elwes writes that it is often seen in Dimbulla; and 

 Mr. Bligh, who observes it yearly in the Haputale gorges, tells me that it comes into that district to breed 

 usually about the month of April. It inhabits the Morowak-Korale and Kukkul-Korale hills, in which 

 I have seen it in various months, and I have no doubt it breeds there in sequestered places. I have seen it 

 in large flocks on the sea-coast at Tangalla, and Capt. Wade has met with it at Yala. On one occasion, too, 

 I encountered it in the north of the island. It hawks, as I have seen C. caudacuta in Australia, at an 

 enormous height, and when rained on by a monsoon shower descends to earth, and is thus seen for a few 

 minutes in the low country, vanishing again on the return of sunshine. Layard knew it principally from 

 Nuwara Elliya. 



In India Jerdon observed it chiefly in the south of the peninsula, specifying the Nilghiris, Malabar, and 

 the Wynaad as the localities where he met with it. Mr. Carter found it during the S.W. monsoon at 

 Coimbatore, Salem, and on the Anamully bills at various elevations up to 6000 feet. The species does not 

 seem to extend into the north of India, where its Australian and Chinese congener, C. caudacuta, singularly 

 enough, is found in considerable numbers. Our bird inhabits Tenasserim, and Mr. Inglis obtained it iu 

 Cachar. It is common in the Andamans, but has not been procured in the Nicobars. It extends down the 

 Malay peninsula (taking in Pinang) to Singapore, and thence to Java, Labuan, Borneo, and Celebes, to the 

 south-east of which latter group it has not yet been observed. 



Habits. — This magnificent Swift and its Australian ally are the swiftest creatures in existence, excelling 

 all other living beings to such an extent in their powers of locomotion that they cannot fail, as the per- 



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