1845] or little known species of Birds. 209 



That very beautiful bird, the^Ltfftcornis cerviniceps of Gould, extends 

 so hi^h as Arracan, where it is not very uncommon ; and the Society 

 also possesses L. Temminckii from* Singapore. Bombycistoma Fullar- 

 tonii, Hay, J. A. S. X, 573, is identical with Batrachostomus 

 auritus, (V. and H.), Gould, which name it must bear; and with 

 respect to the supposed Podargus (or rather Batrachostomus) javensis 

 of Coorg, in southern India, noticed in XI, 798, Mr. Jerdon has since 

 informed me that " it is not that species, but a smaller one, about eight 

 or nine inches long ; of which," he remarks, " I have seen a Malacca 

 specimen. It is, I think, distinguished in Lesson's ' Manuel d? Ornitho- 

 logies which I do not possess. I can perfectly trust to the descrip- 

 tions I received of it, and hope yet to obtain specimens." Most pro- 

 bably it is the Podargus (now Batrachostomus) stellatus, Gould, Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. 1837, P- 43, which, together with Bat. auritus and B. ja- 

 vensis (v. Podargus cornutus, Tem.), inhabits the Malay peninsula. 



Cypselidce. Swifts. To Mr. G. R. Gray is due the credit of first 

 separating the Hirundo esculenta, Lin., (the constructor of the cele- 

 brated edible birds'-nests,) from the group of Swallows, and transfer- 

 ring it, as a new and distinct generic type, Collocalia, to that of the 

 Swifts : and I can now announce a second representative of this type 

 in the Hirundo unicolor of Jerdon, since regarded by him as a Cypselus, 

 upon which I altered the specific name to concolor (/. A. S. XI, 886), as 

 there was previously a Cypselus unicolor ; but it must now rank as Col- 

 localia unicolor, (Jerdon). From the true Swifts (Cypselus), the 

 species of Collocalia differ in their considerably less robust general 

 conformation, in their comparatively very slender tarsus and toes, 

 and in having the hind-toe distinctly opposed to the three an- 

 terior toes. Mr. Jerdon "only found this remarkable species in the 

 Neilgherries, and about the edges of the hills. It flise in large 

 flocks, and with very great speed." The Society has also received it 

 from Darjeeling. Is it, therefore, exclusively a mountain species, which 

 constructs glutinous nests like the other, but in mountain caverns ? 

 Or does it resort, like its congener, to the caverns of cliffs overhanging 

 the sea-shore during the breeding season, in this case being perhaps 

 the constructor of the edible nests which are found on the western coast 

 of the peninsula of India, as, for instance, in the group of small islands 

 about eight miles west of Vingorla (which is 275 miles from Bombay), 

 commonly known as the Vingorla rocks, where about a hundred- 



