MALAYAN ORNITHOLOGY. UAL 
My specimens I shot on the island of Singapore, late in August ; 
but doubtless the species is distributed throughout the Straits. 
Length 4 inches ; irides dark-brown; the wings project 14 inch 
beyond the tail; tarsus 2 inch; plumage black, glossed on the 
upper parts with bluish-green ; beneath dusky, the feathers of the 
belly and vent elged with white, presenting a mottled appearance. 
DENDROCHELIDON xiEcio (Horsf.). The Malayan Crested 
Swift. 
My first acquaintance with this species was while travelling in 
Pérak, where it certainly cannot be put down as common. Larly 
in April, with H.B.M.’s Resident, I visited some tin mines ata 
place called Salak, situated at the foot of the range of mountains 
running about ten miles East of Kwala Kanesa. After an intense- 
ly hot ride of several hours on elephants, we reached our destina- 
tion, a settlement of about half-a-dozen huts occupied by Chinese 
miners, who received us civilly, but were extremely anxious lest 
we should enter the workings with our boots on, or touch any of 
the burning joss-sticks—little smouldering tapers ht to propitiate 
the good or keep off the evil spirits. These miners, being ex- 
eeedingly superstitious, imagine the ground to be peopled with 
demons who have the power of rendering the metal scarce or other- 
wise. Anybody entering a mine with his boots on is supposed to 
give such offence to the spirits that the ground ceases to yicld ore, 
and becomes worthless—a strange superstition, the origin of 
which I was unable to find out. 
These Salak mines had been worked in former years; but, when 
the disturbances broke out in Pérak, the Malays burned the 
shanties, and the miners fled. The old workings had filled with 
water, forming several smail ponds, over which were flying some 
birds of the Swift tribe; there were twenty or thirty of them 
flying backwards and forwards over the pools, at one moment 
dipping suddenly down and just breaking the surface of the 
water, then rising high into the air, uttering a loud twittering 
note. Every now and then they deserted the ponds, and settled 
along the bare upper branches of an enormous dead forest-tree 
which stood near. They were too high up fur me to ascertain as 
a fact that they were nesting ; but probably such was the case, and 
