CH2ETURA GIGANTEA. 
315 
whity brown, of variable paleness, blending into the surrounding green ; inner margins of quills and tertials 
light mauve-brown, palest on the latter ; shafts of tail-feathers blackish brown. ... ,■ 
Lores intense black, between which and the nostril there is a whitish or whity-brown ^ spot ; throa ;» corresponding 
pale colour— that is, lightest in those birds which have the palest frontal spots; beneath umber-brown, glossed 
obscurely with green, and blending gradually on the throat into the pale hue of the chin ; under tad-coverts and 
a broad streak leading from them above the flank to opposite the centre of the back wlnte ; shafts of under tad- 
coverts black ; under wing-coverts pale mouse-brown. 
Young. Immature birds have the frontal patches scarcely discernible, the head browner than the adult, the back 
darker, and the under surface less suffused with green. 
Obs. This Swift is variable in the pale markings about the face and chin, in the light hue of the back, and in the 
extent of the blue gloss on the upper plumage. I have examined a senes from Labuan Malacca Smgapore and 
South India, and 1 find that the dark-backed birds, which are evidently not fully aged have the chin and lora 
spots of a correspondingly dark hue. Mr. Hume has separated the Indian birds as O. mchca on account of 
their more pronounced white chin and frontal patches, as distinguished from what he considers to be true 
C. gigantea from Java, without the white chin. If the type from this island had not the whitish markings it 
must have been, in all probability, an immature bird. Temminck’s plate shows no white nostril-patches ; but m 
those days artists were not particular. 
I am not conversant enough with Indian specimens to say whether they never show an absence of the white patches either 
as yomm birds or as individuals ; but those from all other quarters, as I have just remarked, vary in this respect. 
Birds from each end of the geographical limit of the species, viz. from India and Celebes, have the white spots 
alike, which argues in favour of there being but one species. Two examples from Labuan measure 8- 1 and 
8-2 inches in the wing ; one is a dark-backed bird, the other a light one, and the ehm and forehead tally with 
the back in each : two from Malacca measure 8-1 and 7-9 inches in the wing; one has a dark back and no lora, 
spot, the other is slightly paler and has an indication of the light patches. One from Singapore measures 
7- 9 inches, has a very dark back, no frontal patches, and a dull brown under surface ; it is evidently a young bird. 
Another from the Nilghiris is entirely a pale bird, with light chin- and nostril-spots. Lord Tweeddale lmds that 
adolescent examples from the Andamans agree with Malaccan ones in his collection. 
Distribution . — The Brown-necked Spine-tail is a resident in the Ceylon lulls, wandering at uncertain 
times during its day’s pereginations over the whole island. In the upper ranges it is most often seen 
frequenting the Horton, Nuwara-Elliya, Kandapolla, and Elephant Plains, over which it dashes at one 
moment, while at the next it sweeps round the adjacent hills in its headlong course. It is frequently noticed 
in the coffee-estates in the surrounding districts. Mr. Elwes writes that it is often seen in Dimbulla ; and 
Mr. Bligh, who observes it yearly in the Haputale gorges, tells me that it comes into that district to breed 
usually about the month of April. It inhabits the Morowak-Korale and Kukkul-Ivorale hills, in which 
1 have seen it in various months, and I have no doubt it breeds there in sequestered places. I have seen it 
in large flocks on the sea-coast at Tangalla, and Capt. Wade has met with it at A ala. On one occasion, too, 
I encountered it in the north of the island. It hawks, as I have seen C. caudacuta in Australia, at an 
enormous height, and when rained on by a monsoon shower descends to earth, and is thus seen for a lev 
minutes in the low country, vanishing again on the return of sunshine. Layard knew it principally horn 
Nuwara Elliya. _ . 
In India Jerdon observed it chiefly in the south of the peninsula, specifying the Nilghiris, a a ar, am 
the Wynaad as the localities where he met with it. Mr. Carter found it during the S.W. monsoon at 
Coimbatore, Salem, and on the Anatnully hills at various elevations up to 6000 feet. 1 lie species does not 
seem to extend into the north of India, where its Australian and Chinese congener, C. caudacuta, singularly 
enough, is found in considerable numbers. Our bird inhabits Tenasserim, and All. Inglis obtained it in 
Cachar.' It is common in the Andamans, but has not been procured in the Nicobars. It extends down the 
Alalay peninsula (taking in Pinang) to Singapore, and thence to Java, Labuan, Borneo, and Celebes, to the 
south-east of which latter group it has not yet been observed. 
Habits .—This magnificent Swift and its Australian ally are the swiftest creatures in existence, excelling 
all other living beings to such an extent in their powers of locomotion that they cannot fail, as the per- 
2 s 2 
