CTPSELUS BATASSIENSIS. 323 



in little flocks with lively screams in just the same manner. These remain about the place of their birth 

 throughout life, roosting in the trees which contain the nests in which they were reared, and to which they return 

 early in the evening, flying up to the fronds and again darting off in search of their evening meal. It associates 

 in parties of considerable numbers, and may often be seen, in company with the Swiftlet, hawking at evening 

 time over the paddy-fields in the Western Province. Its flight is swift and regular at times and fluttering at 

 others, particularly when hawking in a flock ; it flies late at nights, and, as Dr. Jerdon remarks, it is not 

 uncommon to see Bats and these Swifts hawking together at dusk, a circumstance which perhaps has given 

 rise to the belief that it is nocturnal in its habits, and is also doubtless the origin of its Bengal appellation 

 " Chamchiki." I have seen it flying rather leisurely about, taking winged termites, at sunset. Its note, which 

 it constantly utters, is likened by Blyth to the sound titeeya, which is a very correct rendering of it, although 

 there is a pretty shrillness in the cry that cannot be well expressed in words. Dr. Hamilton considered this 

 bird to be nocturnal in Bengal, appearing at sunset and going to rest at sunrise ! It certainly hawks very 

 late ; but it is difficult to understand what became of those that were seen at sunrise, and whose disappearance 

 must have given rise to this strange belief. 



Nidification. — This species breeds from October until April, probably rearing two broods in the season, 

 as I have found eggs and young of the same colony during both these months. Although it invariably 

 nests in the palmyra-palm wherever these trees are to be found, I am of opinion that it takes to the areca 

 in the south of the island, as I have seen them thronging around these trees at Galle during the breeding- 

 season. It very often selects an isolated palmyra, and sometimes one situated in a most public spot, to breed 

 in — to wit, the solitary tree which stands on the shore in front of Fort Frederick at Trincomalie, and in which 

 there is always a little colony to be found. The nest is built on the under surface of the hanging fronds, which 

 droop round the head of the trunk beneath the cluster of more vital and horizontal ones ; it is attached 

 principally to the ribs of the leaf, and situated high up where these lie at a convenient distance from one 

 another. If, however, it is placed low down, near the tip, it is firmly fixed to the hollow portions as well 

 as the ribs. In shape it resembles a little open pocket, with a shallow interior of about 1 inch in depth and 

 If in width; the back part, adjoining the leaf, which is thin, is continued for some distance up, affording 

 an additional support, and often a partial foundation, for another nest built immediately above it. The 

 materials consist of " wild cotton,'" the down from the pod of the cotton-tree, mixed with feathers which 

 are placed in regular layers round the front and firmly incorporated with the cotton, which is agglutinated 

 with the saliva of the bird. Sundevall, remarks Jerdon, shot these birds with their mouths slimy and filled 

 with the down of some syngenesious plant which they appeared to catch during their flight. Mr. Hume 

 finds the nests in India to be constructed of the fine dow r n of the Argemone mexicana and similar plants. 

 The eggs are two or three in number, much elongated and smooth in texture, pure white, and the shell very 

 thin ; they measure from 065 to 0'7 inch in length, and from 043 to 046 inch in breadth. The young, 

 when able to use their feet, cling to the leaf above the nest, supporting themselves in an upright position ; 

 the old birds, when feeding them or entering their nest, alight at the bottom of the palm-leaf and run 

 nimbly up the ribs. 



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