THE MALAYAN CRESTED SWIFT 
Hemiprocne longipcnnis karterti iStresem.) 
Description: — This tree-swift has the upper parts dark 
oily green and the underparts pale green, hghtening to whitish 
on the abdomen. Behind the eye is a patch of chestnut colour 
(* 'ear- coverts"). 
The female lacks the chestnut patch but is otherwise very 
similar to her mate. 
Irides brown, bill black, feet dark purplish-flesh. 
Length 7 to 8 inches : wing between 6 and 6^ inches. 
Disiribution: — This tree-swift is foimd in Tenasserim and 
thence down the Malay Peninsula to Borneo, Sumatra and 
Java, 
Status in Singapore: — Although we have on odd occasions 
seen this bird near the town it is usually only to be met with in 
the country districts where it is numerous. It is common in 
the small islands and apparently resident. 
field Notes:— Th\% is a larger bird than the hotise-sviift 
and has especially long winf^s and a very long slender tail. 
It is usually met with in small scattered parties but this species 
is by no means so exclusively aerial in its htibits as the house- 
swift : dashing about after insects high in the air is varied by 
frequent periods of resting on the topmost branches of a 
convenient tall tree, 
Other habits: — The nesting habits of the swifts of this 
genus are of peculiar interest. The smgle egg is laid in a 
"minute saucer-shaped nest, only about ih inches in diameter, 
of tiakes of bark and sometimes a few feathers cemented to- 
gether, and attached to the side of a horizontal dead twig or 
branch wnth saliva. The nest is so small that it is with diffi- 
culty seen, and the swift sits on the branch with its body over 
the nest." Thus writes Blanford of M. coronata which is the 
Indian representative of our bird. When the bird is resting 
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