HIRUNDO ERTTHEOPYGIA. 595 



H. intermedia, Hume, is another and a new species from the hilly regions of Northern India. Mr. Hume has received 

 it from Assam ; it is a large bird ; wing 5-0 to 5-2 inches. It has no rufous nuchal collar, and the rump-band 

 is uniform. 



H. striolata, Temin., inhabits the Indian archipelago. A specimen from Flores has the wing 4-1 inches ; outer tail- 

 feathers 3-6 ; stripes of under surface much bolder than in a Mongolian example of H. daurica; the upper tail- 

 coverts have broad stripes. An allied form, if really distinct, to the latter exists in Mr. Hume's new species, 

 H. substriolata (Str. Feath. 1877, p. 264). It has the underparts more richly coloured, a less massive bill, and 

 longer tail. 



Distribution. — This little Swallow only finds a place in the avifauna of Ceylon as a straggler, and but 

 two instances of its occurrence in the island have been brought to my notice. Layard, the first to get it in 

 Ceylon, writes thus concerning it : — " I found one of these birds in the village of Pt. Pedro in December : 

 it had probably been driven over from the opposite coast by stress of weather : it was hawking about the 

 street. I fired at and wounded it, but it flew away. Next day it was again in the same place, and I 

 succeeded in killing it." At this season of the year the north wind, styled at Colombo the " longshore wind," 

 brings many Indian birds to our shores, and doubtless was the means of driving the present species southward 

 of its natural habitat ; but as it is an inhabitant of the Nilghiris and other parts of the south of India, it is 

 strange that it does not more frequently visit Ceylon. In the second instance it was procured by Mr. Bligh 

 on the Catton Estate in April 1877. 



This Mosque-Swallow is found throughout India; it is recorded from the Nilghiris, Mysore, the Deccan, 

 Mount Ahoo, Deesa, and Cashmere, as far up as Chungus on the Tawi river, where Mr. Brooks observed it. 

 Jerdon says that he has seen it in every part of India, from the extreme south to Darjiling, which remark, 

 however, does not hold good as to its distribution in every respect, as the latter locality is inhabited by the 

 larger species, H. nipalensis, not then discriminated by Jerdon from the present. Captain Butler remarks that 

 a few birds remain at Deesa the whole year round, but most return to the hills during the hot weather, or 

 between the 30th April and the 25th June. Mr. Adam writes that it is not very common at the Sambhur 

 Lake, but that it breeds there notwithstanding. In Furreedpore Mr. Cripps found it abundant. At the 

 eastern side of the Bay of Bengal it is replaced in Tenasserim by the Himalayan race, H. nipalensis. From 

 some portion of the mainland it may perhaps stray across to the islands of the Bay, for Mr. Hume mentions 

 seeing one between Preparis Island and Calcutta when out of sight of land. 



It may not be out of place to mention here that the Swallow alluded to under the name of H. daurica 

 by Swinhoe as breeding in Northern China, and which Jerdon refers to in his article on this bird (' Birds of 

 India '), really belonged to another allied species, H. striolata, Temm. & Schlegel, mentioned above. 



Habits. — This little Swallow in India is fond of frequenting mosques and other buildings, as well as the 

 vicinity of walls or bridges, under which it hawks in search of the insects which affect the proximity of water. 

 Mr. Aitken writes of it as follows : — " This is one of those birds which seem highly to appreciate the advantages 

 of civilization, and to think, like Cowper's cat, that men take a great deal of trouble to please them ! 

 In Berar they have almost discarded the mosques which gave them their name, and have betaken themselves 

 to the culverts of the roads which are now being constructed all over the country. Wherever a road is made 

 some of the culverts are sure to be taken possession of, as soon as the rains commence, by pairs of these 

 Swallows, which may be seen darting in at one end and out at the other, or hawking about for flies over the 

 pools of water at the roadside. Their flight has, however, nothing of the extreme rapidity of that of the Swifts 

 or Wire-tailed Swallows. During the cold season the young often assemble in large flocks ; but these all 

 disperse or perhaps migrate as the weather gets warmer, and only a few pairs remain to breed during the 

 monsoon." I conclude that the numbers of these birds seen by Col. Sykes were young ; he says " it appeared 

 for two years in succession in countless numbers on the parade-ground at Poona ; they rested a day or two 

 only, and were never seen in the same numbers afterwards." 



Nidification. — The breeding-season of this species is said to last from April to August. The nest, writes 

 Mr. Hume, " which is usually affixed to the under surface of a ledge of rock or the roof of some cave or 

 building, and which is constructed of fine pellets of mud or clay, consists of a narrow tubular passage like a 



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