1214 APPENDIX I. 



excavated a hole 8 inches deep ; the soil was sandy, such as could be " cut by a sharp-pointed stick without difficulty." 

 One nest contained four eggs of about the same date of laying ; another, two young ones and four eggs, one of which 

 was on the point of hatching off, and one perfectly fresh — showing that they are laid very irregularly. 



Page 314. — Chcetura gigantea. Mr. Hume, I observe (" List Lid. Birds," Str. Feath. 1879), still retains the name 

 ('. indica for the Indian birds. I have shown, on examination of a series from widely extended localities, that the species is 

 decidedly variable in the matter of the white patches. 



Mr. Bourdillon (Str. Feath. 1878, p. 34) calls attention to the wonderful flight of these Swifts : — " It is magnificent," 

 lie remarks ; " their speed almost incredible ; the rushing noise as they dart through the air quite startling. I was much 

 interested the other clay in watching a flight of these Swifts feeding on a crowd of termites that, as usual, were swarming 

 up from their underground nest. I was close enough to see that, at the instant of capture, the Swifts detached and 

 rejected the wings of their prey." 



Page 324. — Collocalia francica. This Swiftlet is noticed by Capt. Wardlaw Eamsay as having been obtained in 1878 

 by Mr. Carl Bock in Sumatra. 



Page 328. — Dendrochelidon coronatus. Males from India have more rufous about the chin and cheeks than Ceylon 

 examples ; this colour extends from the chin across the lower part of the face to the ear-coverts, forming a conspicuous 

 facial coloration. I do uot know whether this trifling difference is constant. The tints of the plumage are otherwise 

 the same as in Ceylonese specimens. 



Page 355. — Oriolus diffusa. With regard to this title of Mr. Sharpe's, which I adopted for the Black-naped Indian 

 Oriole, and my remarks in the " Observation," setting forth the grounds which that author had for altering the name 

 hitherto employed, I observe a note of Mr. Hume's (Str. Feath. 1878, p. 392, B. of Tenass.), calling attention to facts 

 which I had overlooked. The name indieus is one of Jerdon's, not Brisson's, which are indeed, as Mr. Hume points out, 

 inadmissible. The former author observes, in the ' Illustrations of Indian Ornithology,' after remarking on the invalidity 

 of the title chinensis, " I have therefore given our peninsular species the appellation of indieus, partly because I consider 

 that 0. indieus of Brisson and others may possibly refer to this, though faultily described." I desire, therefore, to restore 

 the usual title to this bird, and it will stand in the ' Birds of Ceylon ' as Oeiolus indicus. 



Page 360. — Graucalus macii. This Shrike breeds in the North-west Province in July and August. The birds are 

 very partial to Palu-trees, and in them they build, constructing a small nest of grass fixed on a branch, and scarcely visible 

 from the ground beneath. Such a nest, found by an overseer of Mr. Parker's, contained two young birds ; another nest, 

 situated at the top of a Palu-tree, and to which this gentleman watched one of the owners carrying grass, was externally 

 a large nest of small sticks (perhaps an old one of some other birds), lined inside with grass and leaves. It was fixed in 

 the fork of a small branch. 



Page 3GG. — Perierocotus peregrinus. Nests of this Minivet found in the Manaar district are described to me by 

 Mr. Parker as beautiful little structures, " made entirely of small leaf-stalks laid parallel, wound round and round with 

 spider's web, and covered all over with little patches of lichen. The nest is," he writes, " always on the top of a small 

 overhanging branch (generally that of a wild mustard-tree) ; and so cleverly does the colour resemble the bark, that when 

 I found my first nest, not more than G or 7 feet from the ground, I stared at it for several minutes before I knew it was 

 one, though I saw the bird fly off it. The nest is firmly glued to the branch, so tightly, in fact, that it must almost be 

 torn off piece by piece. It is cup-shaped, If inch wide and f inch deep." The eggs are described as of a delicate rich 

 green ground-colour, spotted with purple ; but they fade in about a fortnight after being prepared. 



Page 369. — Lalage sykesi. In the synonymy I omitted the reference to Mr. Holdsworth's Catalogue, which is 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1872^ p. 437. 



Page 372. — TepTirodornis pondicerianus. I am now able to give some particulars concerning the nesting of this 

 Wood-Shrike in Ceylon. Mr. Parker writes me from Manaar of a nest containing two eggs recently found by him : — 

 " It was on the lateral branch of a ' mustard-tree,' near the end, and much resembled the nest of Perierocotus peregrinus^ 

 but was flatter and wider, and was made of chips of dead wood, dead grass, and dead lichen, tied together with spider's 

 webs, and lined with the same mixed with a few fine fibres of bark." Its measurements were 2| inches wide and | inch 

 deep, and it was glued to a branch about 7 feet from the ground. Another nest found was constructed in the same 

 anner. 



