CYPSELUS. 25 



In length these eggs vary from 0'72 to 1 inch, and in breadth 

 from 0-52 to 0-62 inch ; but they average 0-87 by 0-57 inch. 



Cypselus batassiensis, Gray. The Palm-Swift. 



Cypselus batassiensis Gray, .Terd. B. Ind. i, p. 180. 



Cypsehis palmariim, Gray, Hume, Rough Draft N. 8j- E. no. 102. 



The Pahn-Swift breeds, I thiuk, twice in the year ; at any rate 

 I have myself taken the eggs in March, and again in July, and I 

 have had them sc^nt me in the latter part of .fune and early in 

 April. 



They nest solely on the " Trir" or toddy-tree {Borassus flaMU- 

 fonnis). 



The large fan-shaped leaves of this palm get bent by the wind, 

 and hang down so that the points of the leaves turn somewhat 

 inwards ; and it is to the under surface of that portion of the leaf 

 which is bent inwards that the nest is attached. 



The bent portions of the leaf stand at an angle of from 40 to 70 

 degrees, so that the under surface becomes in fact the upper 

 surface, and presents a sloping furrowed bank to which the nest 

 is attached. In one of these furrows formed by the large plaits of 

 the leaf, and always about the centre of this latter, a tiny watch- 

 pocket shaped nest, composed of fine do^ii of the Argemone 

 mexicana and other plants, or in other cases of fine feathers 

 cemented together by the saliva of the bird, is firmly glued. The 

 actual pocket of the nest is rarely above 1^ inch in circumference 

 and I of an inch in depth, but the back portion of the nest runs 

 up the plait from 2 to 3| inches. It is a curious fact, that while 

 the rest of the nest is pretty soft, the edge of the pocket in front 

 is matted into a sort of cord, just as in the case of the watch- 

 pocket a piping is run round the edge. In one or two nests that 

 I have seen, the birds have incorporated the soft petals of the 

 white poppy (so largely grown for opium in Behar, where this 

 species is specially abundant) with the other materials of the 

 nest. 



As a rule, only one or at most U\o pairs are found breeding on 

 the same tree ; but I once saw a \vhole colony located in a single 

 palm. 



Three appears to be the usual complement of eggs, but Mr. E. 

 M. Adam, from whom I first of all received the eggs and nest of 

 this species, informs me that he has found as many as five in a 

 single nest. 



Mr. E. Thompson, writing from the Mirzapoor District on the 

 18th March, 1869, remarked :— " On a toddy-palm (Borassus 

 Jlabelliformis) I observed several nests. With some difficulty I 

 got down one with two eggs ; one of the eggs unfortunately got 

 broken. The nest was stuck between two ribs of the leaf of the 

 palm, and the female bird looked as if slie was sitting up against 



