COLLOCALIA FRANCICA. 325 



of ' Stray Feathers,' as Mr. Hume still applies Jerdon's name of G. unicolor (bestowed in the Madras Journal on 

 the first specimens he received from the Mlghiris) to examples from Southern and Northern India. 



C. fueiphaga from the Andamans as well as Java is a much smaller bird than C. francica. Total length about 

 3 - 5 inches ; wing 3 - 8, reaching 1-5 beyond tail ; tail l - 5. 



Above glossy black-green, with a very strong lustre on rump and upper tail-coverts and tail ; throat and sides of fore 

 neck dark brownish grey, chest-feathers edged with whitish ; breast and abdomen white, the feathers with mesial 

 brown lines ; under tail-coverts concolorous with the back, the shorter feathers broadly margined with white. 



Distribution. — The little Swiftlet of Ceylon is spread over the whole island, taking up its quarters in the 

 low country near the many isolated rocky hills which abound therein, and wandering thence over the 

 surrounding districts, while in the Kandyan Province, full of precipices and caves, it everywhere finds a home. 

 There are consequently many parts of the low-lying forest districts where it may always he found, such as 

 the rocky ranges in the Eastern Province, the hilly Pattus and Korales in the south-west, from which it strays 

 to the neighbourhood of Galle, the vicinity of the curious rock-ridges stretching from Kurunegala to 

 Dambulla and northwards to the isolated and singular mountain of Rittagalla, whence it overruns all the 

 Vanni to the extreme north ; in these localities, as also about sundry rocks on the north-east coast to the 

 south of Tirei, the precipices of Yakhahatua near Avisawella, and other crags in the Raygam Korale, I have 

 invariably noticed the Swiftlet. It is occasionally seen, on fine mornings, about the cinnamon-gardens of 

 Colombo, but not so often as round the southern port. It is abundant in the higher parts of Uva, round 

 Nuwara Elliya and Hakgala, and similar spots in the main range. 



This species is found throughout the south of the Indian peninsula, and is said to be more abundant on 

 the Travancore and Nilghiri hills than in the low country. In the north of Iudia it is found in Sikhim and 

 in the neighbourhood of Darjiling. Southward it extends into Malacca and to the Andamans, where a nearly 

 allied species, C. spodiopygia, Peale, with a paler rump, is found. In the opposite direction it reappears in 

 the Mauritius and Seychelle group of islands. 



Habits. — This Swift generally affects the crags and rocky hills in which it has been bred, wandering great 

 distances during the day over the surrounding country. At early morn, when sallying out from its roosting- 

 places, the caves of its birth, it flies about the vicinity with a rather tardy, uncertain flight, and then starts off 

 for distant questing-grounds, when numbers may be met with, all making for the same direction, whence they 

 doubtless spread outwards in search of food. In the afternoon they return in great numbers and pack into 

 a large flock, dashing about their native rocks in close company, uttering their low, hissing cries. They 

 commonly associate with the Palm-Swift, and when questing with these on open ground, such as the 

 " cinnamon/'' fly very low and may easily be shot. They can always be recognized from C. batassiensis, on 

 the wing, by the short tail and the absence of the w r ell-known note of this latter species. I have noticed them 

 hawking about the bunds of large tanks, flying close to the water and keeping up their evening meal 

 until quite dark. Jerdon mentions them returning to the caves in Pigeon Island, off Honore, as late as 9 p.m., 

 and comments on the vast distance they must have flown to arrive at their roosting-place three hours after 

 dark ! Their powers of flight are certainly very great, their progress being much more rapid than that of the 

 Palm-Swift. The food of this species consists of gnats, mosquitos, and other small flies. It appears, like 

 other Swifts, to be constantly in the act of catching its food ; even late at night, when sitting on a lofty cliff 

 overlooking one of the magnificent prospects of the splendid province of Uva, I have watched them picking 

 off insects in their rapid progress homeward. 



Nidification. — The breeding-season of this little Swiftlet in Ceylon lasts from March until June. It nests 

 in large colonies in various caves in the hills and mountains of the central and southern parts of the island. 

 Many of these are known from seeing the birds haunt the vicinity of certain precipitous hills ; but few have 

 been visited and examined, on account of the general inaccessibility of these resorts. Among those which are 

 known are : — two situated on the rocky hills of Diagallagoolawa, near Pittegalla, on the banks of the Bentota 

 river, and which are referred to in the extract given below from Layard's notes ; several occupied by large aud 

 small colonies on the Dambetenne and Piteratmalie estates on the south face of the Haputale range ; one on 

 Pedrotallagalla, spoken of by Kelaart ; and another which I was informed of in a hill called Maha-ellagala, near 



