320 CTPSELUS AFFINIS. 



met with about Nuwara Elliya and on the Horton Plains, but in all probability does not roost in such high 

 regions. 



It is a bird of very extensive range, for besides inhabiting the whole of India and Western Asia as far 

 as Palestine, where it is the C. galilaensis of Antinori, it extends through Africa to the extreme south. 

 Although found throughout India from the south to the Himalayas, Jerdon remarks that large tracts of 

 country may be traversed at times without seeing a single individual, and Mr. Hume has likewise found it 

 to be very local. In many parts of Sindh he met with it commonly, but throughout Upper Sindh to 

 Sehwan he did not see it. At Mount Aboo and the plains of the surrounding country it is common, breeding 

 in the celebrated Dilwarra temples. It is rare in the Deccan; and Col. Sykes remarks that though found in 

 all districts in India, it is often confined to a small tract in the neighbourhood of some fine large pagodas 

 and other buildings. In the central regions of Nepal it is said by Hodgson to remain throughout the year. 

 In Palestine Canon Tristram records that it is a permanent resident in the Jordan valley, while every other 

 species of its genus is migratory there. In the portions of Africa which are inhabited by it it is likewise 

 non-migratory. With regard to this peculiarity in its economy, it is singular that the same is true of its 

 representative on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, the Cypselus subfurcatus of Blyth, which Mr. Swinhoe 

 recorded as "resident on the Chinese coast " as far north as Amoy. 



Habits. — In the mountains of Ceylon this stout little Swift is usually seen coursing over coffee-estates, 

 steep patnas, or the so-called " Plains " in the upper ranges, while in the low country it affects every variety 

 of open situation, particularly on sultry rainy evenings, when the damp tropical air is teeming with an abundance 

 of insect-food. It congregates in large Hocks, and hawks about with a rapid powerful flight, careering round 

 and round at a great height, and then suddenly descending, will fly as low as the Common Swallow, picking 

 up its evening meal right and left with no apparent exertion. In the hills it consorts with the Swiftlet, and 

 may often be seen late in the evening flying with that species in some given direction on its way to a distant 

 roosting-placc, probably some inaccessihle cliff where it has been bred. It is not usually a noisy bird, its 

 note being a weak scream, resembling that of the European Swift, but not so soft in tone, and which Blyth 

 styled a " shivering " cry. In the breeding-season, however, its cries are incessant ; packing in small troops 

 like the common Swift of Europe, it dashes round the spot where its nests are swarming with young, 

 alighting for an instant to convey to the hungry mouths the food which it carries in its bill, and then 

 sweeping off in a body, separates in search of a fresh store or continues its circular peregrinations. Jerdon. 

 who remarks that its flight is fluttering and irregular in the morning and evening, writes that "small 

 parties at these times may be seen flying close together, rather high up in the air and slowly, with much 

 fluttering of the wings and a good deal of twittering talk ; and after a short period of this intercourse all of 

 a sudden they separate at once and take a rapid downward plunge, again to unite after a longer or shorter 

 interval." They may occasionally be seen flying beneath culverts and road-bridges like a Swallow, evidently 

 feeding on the insects which congregate about the water in such places. Mr. Blyth, it may be remarked, 

 has stated that he has seen this Swift rise from oil' the ground. 



Nidification. — This species breeds either in large colonies or in company with a few of its fellows, and 

 rears its young at various periods between the months of March and July. It builds in the verandahs of 

 outhouses, beneath bridges and culverts, under overhanging rocks, or in caves, in all of which situations 

 I have known its nest to be found. Layard found them breeding at Dambulla in April about the rocks 

 there, and at Tangalla beneath a bridge. I met with a large colony nesting in March in a salt-store at 

 Kirinde, and another in May under the celebrated wooden bridge at Wellemade in Uva. In the month of 

 \pril several pairs used to breed annually in a small seaside cave near Trineomalie. Mr. Holdsworth 

 found it nesting " under the rocks overhanging the entrance to the famous temple at Dambulla." The 

 nest is constructed of feathers, straw, grass, and at times pieces of rag, wool, twine, or any miscellaneous 

 material which the bird can find and which will assort well with the rest of the structure. The whole mass 

 is firmly cemented together with the saliva of the bird, and is shaped in accordance with the situation 

 in which it is built, which likewise determines the position of the aperture. The interior is spacious, and 

 sometimes several nests are fastened together. Nests which I have seen in caves or beneath bridges 



