22 OrPSELIDJE. 



no means hard or smooth ; others again are much smaller, globular, 

 and having the whole of the materials firmly agglutinated together. 



lu the plains they are not generally lined, but in the hills they 

 often have a vi'arm lining of grass and feathers. 



Captain Hutton says : — " This is a very abundant species at 

 Jeripanee, below Mussoorie, coursing and screaming through the 

 air \^'ith great I'apidity and shrillness. It does, not construct a 

 nest of mud like the Common Swallow, but attaches straw, rags 

 flags, and feathers, all together by a glutinous cement, beneath the 

 roof of I'erandahs between the beams. The nest, although made 

 of such frail materials, which are not interwoven like those of 

 other nests, but simply glued together, is ne^'ertheless exceedingly 

 tough, and will resist a moderate poke from a stick. It is lined 

 with feathers and straw, and the eggs much resemble those of 

 //. dauriea, being pure ^^'hite, and of a narrow, lengthened appear- 

 ance. "With us it breeds in June and July, laying from two to 

 four eggs." 



Mr. James Aitken writes : — " This bird is of course abundant, 

 and its rushing flight and shrill cry often strongly recall summer 

 evenings at home. Its habits are indeed but a feeble copy of those 

 of the English bird, the same circling near their nests, always 

 screaming as they pass them, and the same assembling in numbers 

 high in the air in the evening, though they fly low much more 

 frequently. They breed once in February, and again during the 

 monsoon. The nests are probably better known than those of 

 any other Indian Swallow ; they are generally built under roofs, 

 sometimes in a crevice between the wall and the roof, but often 

 attached to the roof itself. In the latter case the straws of 

 which the nest is composed are so firmly agglutinated that -it 

 tears like a piece of matting; and it is generally ornamented 

 without, as weU as lined within, with feathers. Two or three 

 long, white eggs are laid. The young, like those of the English 

 Swift, never become perchers, but take boldly to the wing when- 

 I'Aer they lea^•e the nest, returning to it when fatigued until 

 they acquire their full powers. Numbers take possession of the 

 porches and verandahs, where these are high enough, of the 

 cutcherries and other large buildings now erected all over the 

 land, and fly backwards and forwards, building their nests, or 

 tending their young, totally regardless of the crowd that may be 

 moving below. It is no uncommon thing to see the top of an 

 archway covered with their nests, all closely packed together, but 

 where there is ample accommodation, as in a cutcherry >'erandah, 

 each nest usually stands apart." 



Dr. Scully remarks : — " The Common Indian Swift is ^•ery 

 abundant in the valley of Nepal during about eight months of 

 the year, but migrates to warmer regions in winter. It arrives in 

 the valley about the first week in 3Iarch, and by the 10th of that 

 mouth it is found in swarms near all the towns and villages. It 

 was noticed in the Xawakot district about the end of Nu\-eniber. 

 The breeding-season seems to last from April to .Tulv." 



