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CYPSELUS MELBA. 
have seen it at Topare tank. Mr. Holdsworth records it as frequenting Mu war a Elliya throughout the cool 
season, and Mr. Bligh has noticed it both there and in Haputale at various times of the year. In May I found 
it in great numbers congregated about the high cliffs of Ragalla, which rises above the Elephant Plains, where, 
as Mr. E. Watson informs me, it is often to be seen. It probably frequents the Gongalla range, in the 
southern coffee-district, in common with the last species. 
Ceylon appears to be the most southerly point of this Swift’s range in Asia. It is found all through 
India, more particularly in the Ghats, Nilghiris, and Cashmere hills, from which it extends through Western 
Asia to Europe, which may be most properly styled its head-quarters, and where it is well known in the 
Alps, Pyrenees, and other groups of mountains. Through Africa it wanders as far as Cape Colony, whence 
it is recorded by Layard, Andersson, Ayres, Shelley, and others, but in the tropical region south of the Atlas 
it has not as yet been observed ; in the northern parts of the continent it is common, wandering over Egypt 
and Algeria in the summer, and the same may be said of the northern sea-board of the Mediterranean. 
Mr. G. C. Taylor records it as plentiful in the Crimea and at Constantinople ; Mr. Danford noticed it as a 
summer visitant to parts of Asia Minor, and Severtzoff found it breeding in scattered localities in Central 
Asia (Turkestan). To parts of India it is a cold-weather visitant ; at Mount Aboo it arrives, according to 
Captain Butler, in large numbers about the beginning of September, and remains throughout the season. It 
has not been found to the eastward of the Bay of Bengal, being replaced in Burmah and Tenasserim by 
C. pacificus. 
Habits . — This splendid Swift, which, next to the larger species of the foregoing genus, is the swiftest bird 
in existence, loves to haunt the vicinity of great mountain declivities, towering precipices, ravines, or great 
river-gorges, about which it dashes at tremendous speed, either in search of its insect-prey, or, as would appear 
to an eye-witness, from some normal habit of exercising its marvellous muscular power. It is most active, 
like other Swifts, before rain, when the atmosphere teems with life, or on still evenings, when it may be seen 
varying its headlong flight with extensive curves and vast swoops, from which it will rise with renewed swiftness 
and redoubled beatings of its long, sickle-shaped wings. It hawks late in the evening, and it is generally 
nearly dusk before it directs its course towards the far-off roosting-place which it left in the morning, and 
the reaching of which will perhaps add some hundreds of miles to the immense distance which it has traversed 
during the day. Dr. Jerdon, who, to judge by his writings, took much interest in this family, observed them 
in the south of India flying towards the sea-coast about sunset, and was of opinion that it was their habit to 
make for the seaside and then follow the coast-line, “ picking up stragglers from other regions on their way to 
the cliffs of Gairsoppa,” where he discovered that they roosted. Tickell, as quoted by the same author, noticed 
these Swifts assembled “of an evening near large ponds in the jungle, dashing into the water with loud 
screams,” like the Common Swift of Europe. They assemble in very large flocks, and, as I noticed at 
Polanarua, suddenly appear in a locality, and, after hawking it well, as quickly disappear again. It has a 
shrill, tremulous cry, which has a curious sound as the bird rapidly approaches the spectator, and, instantly 
passing overhead, is again quickly out of hearing. It is said to roost against cliffs, clinging to the rock in an 
upright position, for which its powerful and much-curved claws are well adapted. 
Nidification . — As regards Ceylon, little or nothing is known of this Swift’s breeding. Mr. Bligh is of 
opinion that it nests in April and May near Nuwara Elliya and on the southern slopes of the Haputale 
range, and it is not impossible that some of the birds observed by me at Ragalla were breeding in the 
great precipice there. It does not confine itself to cliffs and rock-faces, but will nest in churches and 
other large buildings. Mr. Hume describes nests sent to him by Miss Cockburn from the Nilghiris as 
being made of “ feathers firmly cemented together with saliva ; but vegetable fibre of different kinds and dry 
grass formed part of the structure, which was a coarse felt-like mass of about 5 inches in diameter, with 
walls 1 inch thick ; and several nests appear to have been grouped together. The eggs are four or five in 
number, pure white.” 
