4 
BIRDS OF BEITISH BURMAH. 
403. CYPSELUS INFUMATUS. 
THE EASTERN PALM-SWIFT. 
Cypselus infumatus, Selater, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 602 ; Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, p. 355, 
pi. X. ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 88 ; Salvad. TJcc. Born. p. 119 ; Hume, S. F. 
iii. p. 44; Wald. in JBl. B. Burm. p. 85; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 70; 
Hume 8r Dav. S. F. vi. p. 48 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 85 ; Bingham, S. F. viii. p. 192, 
ix. p. 149. Cypselus tectorum, Jerd. Proc. As. Soc. Beng. 1870, p. 61 ; 
Godivin- Austen, J. A. 8. B. xxxix. pt. ii. p. 94. Cypselus tinus, Swinhoe, 
Ibis, 1870, p. 90. 
Description. — Male and female. Forehead^ crown_, nape_, back^ wings 
and tail very dark brown or nearly black ; rump and upper tail-coverts 
paler ; sides of the head and the whole lower plumage smoky brown. 
Bill and feet black ; claws dark brown ; eyelids plumbeous ; iris brown. 
Length 5 '2 inches, tail 2'S, wing 4'6, tarsus '3, bill from gape '55 ; fork 
of the tail about '9. The female is of the same size. 
Mr. Blyth states, in his Catalogue of the Birds of Burmah, that 
C. palmarum, a close ally of C. infumatus, abounds in the Indo-Chinese 
countries (in which, no doubt, he includes Burmah), and that C. infumatus 
has not hitherto been detected within the limits of British Burmah. The 
exact reverse, however, appears to be the case. Mr. Davison and Capt. 
Bingham in Tenasserim, and Capt, Wardlaw Ramsay and myself in Pegu, 
found only C. infumatus and not C. palmarum. This latter may, of course, 
occur in Burmah, but I consider it very doubtful ; and I cannot help 
thinking that Mr. Blyth was, in this instance, labouring under a mistake. 
I shall therefore admit only C. infumatus into this work. 
C. palmarum, or rather C. batassiensis, differs in being of a much 
lighter colour ; in having a much longer tail, its total length being about 
2*7 inches; in having the fork of the tail much deeper, about 1*3 inches 
as against '9 inch in C. infumatus ; and in having a rather longer wing. 
The Eastern Palm- Swift is generally distributed over British Burmah 
and is a resident species. 
It is found in Assam and in the hill-tracts of Eastern Bengal, extending 
into China ; and Dr. Tiraud gives it from Cochin China. It also occurs 
in the Malay peninsula and in Borneo. 
This Swift is very abundant throughout Burmah, being found in small 
flocks flying at no great height from the ground, and it is a constant resi- 
dent. Capt. Bingham found the nest of this species in Tenasserim in April, 
and Mr. Theobald in Pegu in June and July. It is usually a tiny cup of 
vegetable down and fine feathers agglutinated with saliva to the frond of a 
toddy-palm. In the hill-tracts of Eastern Bengal this bird makes its nest 
on the palm-leaves used by the people for the roofs of their houses. The 
eggs are generally three in number and white in colour. 
