1870. ] 1*3 



Additional Observations regarding some species oe birds noticed 



by Mr. W. T. Be an ford, in his " Ornithological notes from 



Southern, Western and Central India" — ^ Allak 0. Hume, 



Esq., C £., Commissioner of Customs, Agra. 



[Eeceived 11th January, read 5th February, 1870.] 



Tlie following remarks on Mr. W. T. Blanford's " Orni- 

 thological notes, &c." which appeared in Part II of the Journal of 

 the Asiatic Society for 1869, are submitted as an additional informa- 

 tion regarding several species which Mr. Blanford has noticed 

 in his paper. Some of the data had been collected many years 

 previous, but they had not as yet been placed on record. 



I would premise in regard to the 3 species which, Mr. Blanford 

 particularly notices in his introductory notes, viz. Salpornis spilonotus, 

 Hirundo fluvicola and Cyornis Tickellice, that no one of these is by 

 any means so rare as he supposes. 



As regards Salpornis spilonotus my collection contains specimens 

 from Oudh, (collected by Mr. R.M.Adam, and another of my 

 coadjutors, Mr. E. Thompson, I believe), from the north of the 

 Saharunpur district or the Dhun, (collected by Mr. Gr. F. P. 

 Marshall), from the foot of Mt. Abu, (collected by Dr. King), 

 and from the neighbourhood of Murrie, (in a purchased collection). 



Hirundo ( Lagenoplastes) fluvieola 7 is the commonest of our swal- 

 lows in Upper India, from the Tonse river, near Mirzapiir to the 

 Sutledge near Ferozpur ; it abounds wherever there is water, 

 cliffs or ruined buildings, against which it can plaster its huge 

 mud, honey-comb-like, congery of nests. In Ajmere, at Ahmeda- 

 bad in Guzerat, in Saugor in the Central Provinces, I have noticed 

 numerous colonies, and I have been familiar with this bird, its 

 nest and eggs for the last 20 years, although I did not know its cor- 

 rect name, until shortly before the first volume of Dr. J e r d o n ' s 

 work appeared. 



As for Cyornis Tickellice, I have received more specimens of it 

 than of either rubeculoides or Jerdoni, all, however, from the Jhansee r 

 Saugor and Hoshungabad divisions, and fully two years ago Mr. 

 E. C. M u m sent me the nests and eggs of this species with the 

 female shot by himself off the nest. 



