CYPSELUS APFINIS. 



321 



have had the entrance at the top, and others fixed under tiles have been very long structures with the opening 

 at the end. My correspondent, Mr. Parker, writes me of a pair which took possession of a Red-bellied 

 Swallow's nest under a road-bridge near Kurunegala. To get possession of the eggs a hole had to be made 

 in the side of the nest, which the bird used afterwards as an outlet. On a second visit a piece of the side 

 came out, which the bird clumsily repaired the third year with feathers and leaves, making up a piece of 

 patchwork which reminded one of a "hole in a window-pane stuffed with a piece of cloth \" The number 

 of eggs is generally three ; they are long ovals in shape, smooth in texture, and pure white in colour ; they 

 vary from 08 to 1"0 inch in length by 0'55 to O6o inch in breadth. 



From what has been written of its nidification in India, it appears that there its nest varies in character, 

 as in Ceylon, according to its situation. Mr. Aitken, writing of its breeding at Berar, remarks that when 

 the nest is attached to the roof of a building and not supported in any way, the straws of which it is composed 

 are so firmly agglutinated that it tears like a piece of matting. 



2t 



