5 
both going and returning on the banks of the Indus near Lé, and was numerous about Drds.’” 
To this Mr. A. O. Hume adds, that “in all these localities, as well as on many of the higher 
hills south of the snowy range, it seems to a great extent to be a permanent resident, not at any 
rate migrating en masse from the country, but as a rule, only retreating lower down the valleys 
in the cold weather—some few, however, during the latter season being met with in the higher 
hills of Central India and Rajpootana. On the Neilgherries there appears to be a permanent 
resident colony.” Dr. Jerdon (B. of Ind. i. p. 166) says that he “ only saw it on the summit of 
the Neilgherries, and at Darjeeling, occasionally in large flocks, at other times in small parties, 
and only in the cold weather. At Darjeeling they seemed to be birds of passage entirely, as I 
saw them in October in immense numbers for a few days, and subsequently they had entirely 
disappeared.” In his supplementary notes to the above work (Ibis, 1871, p. 353) he adds that 
he “observed it in the valley of the Sutlej, and in the Sind valley of Kashmir. Mr. Blanford 
found it in Central India flying round a rocky hill, at no great elevation, and also at Khandalla 
on the edge of the western Ghats.” Mr. Hodgson records it as common in Nepal; and Herr 
von Pelzeln (Ibis, 1868, p. 307) speaks of it as occurring in “ Thibet, the Himalayas, Kotegurh.” 
Mr. Swinhoe, in his notes on the birds of China (P. Z. 8. 1871, p. 347), states that it is “‘ common 
in the mountains about Pekin. Pere David says that in winter many are found together in 
caverns in a torpid state, and that these on mild days recover from their sleep and fly about over 
the rocks in the open.” 
I have never had an opportunity of personally watching the habits of the present species at 
its breeding-haunts, and am indebted to my friend Mr. H. Seebohm for the following notes on 
its nidification and habits :—“‘Cotyle rupestris ought rather to be called the Cave-Swallow, than 
the Crag-Swallow or Rock-Martin, if its name refers to its choice of a breeding-station. Hirundo 
urbica is the Rock-Martin par excellence in Greece, building its familiar nest on the limestone 
crags in large and small colonies. So far as I know, Cotyle rupestris always chooses:a cave, with 
which Greece and Asia Minor abound. In both these countries it is a resident bird, frequenting, 
Dr. Kriiper tells me, the plains and the sea-side in winter. In summer it goes into the moun- 
tains to breed; but Von der Miihle and Lindermayer are certainly wrong in saying that it is 
only seen in the high mountains at this season of the year. We never once met with this bird 
in the pine-regions of the Parnassus. Below the pines come some two thousand feet of rock and 
grass before you get into the olive- and vine-valleys. In this region we only found it very low 
down, in the most sheltered situations, in the mountain-gorges a short stroll above the level of 
the vines. These mountain-gorges, like all other limestone districts, abound in caves, which are 
the fayourite breeding-places of this Swallow. On the 10th of May, 1873, I had an excellent 
opportunity of watching a score or more of these birds hawking for flies on a sunny spot in a 
deep mountain-gorge in the Parnassus. The sun was shining brilliantly after a heavy storm of 
wind and rain. The birds were very tame, and my sitting down on a rock in the midst of them 
to watch their movements did not appear to disturb them in the least. Their style of flight 
reminded me very much of that of a butterfly or a bat—a sort of irresolute flutter, very unlike 
the rapid darts of the true Hirwndo. They seemed also occasionally to require rest, often 
perching on the branches of a fallen oak not far from the rock on which I was sitting. They 
2¢ 
517. 
