CYPSELUS AEFINIS. 
(THE INDIAN SWIFT.) 
Cypselus affinis, J. E. Gray, 111. Ind. Zool. i. pi. 35. fig. 2 (1832) ; Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, 
p. 83 ; Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1840, xi. p. 235. no. 255 ; Blyth, Cat. 
B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 86 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 117 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. 
& Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 167 ; Plorsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. p. 106 
(1854); Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 177 (1862); Sclater, Ibis, 1865, p. 235; id. P. Z. S. 
.1865, p. 603; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 339; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 419; Hume, 
Str. Eeath. 1873, p. 166 ; Ball, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 370 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, i. 
p. 85 (1873) ; Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 33 (1874) ; Aitken, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 214. 
Cypselus nipalensis, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. v. p. 780 (18o6). 
C. galilejensis , Antinori, Cat. Collez. di Uccelli, p. 24 (1864). 
C. galilotensis, Tristram, Ibis, 1865, p. 76. 
C. abyssinicus, Streubel, Isis, 1848, p. 354. 
The Allied Swift, Gray; White-rumped Swift, Jerdon. 
Abahil or Babila, Hind. ; Iluwa bil-bil, Natives at Saharunpore (Jerdon). 
Wceheelaniya, Lceniya, Sinhalese. 
Adult male and female. Length 5-1 to 55 inches ; wing 5T to 5-3 ; tail 1-8 ; tarsus 0'4 ; mid toe and claw 0-5 ; bill 
to gape 065 to 07. 
In this species the tail is short, slightly forked, but the feathers not pointed. 
Iris deep brown ; bill black ; feet vinous-brown, claws black. „ , , , . ,, 
Head, hind neck, wings, and tail blackish brown, with a slight greenish lustre, and the forehead paler than the crown , 
back and scapulars glossy green-black, blending into the hue of the hind neck j primaries pale on the inner webs 
the tertials and the feathers along the metacarpal joint with fine light edges ; rump and its sides, with the c i 
and centre of the throat, white, some of the feathers of the former region generally with dark shafts ; undersurface 
glossy black, paler on the under tail-coverts ; under wing brownish black. 
round Immature birds have the feathers of the under wing-coverts margined with whitish and the rump more 
lineated than in the adult ; the breast and lower parts are likewise more or less finely edged with whitish. 
Obs. This Swift varies considerably in size in different portions of its habitat. In India Mr Ilurne has found it 
varying in the wing from 4-8 to 5-5 belies ; and Dr. Finsch gives the wing of specimens from the -Blue Ni e as 
high as 6-6 inches; he likewise remarks that a more or less visible superciliary stripe u 
have found the amount of white on the throat to be variable in some examples ; it does not quite extend 
chin ; probably such are mature birds. 
Distribution.—' The common Indian Swift is not migratory to Ceylon, as was supposed by Layard, but is 
merely a wanderer throughout the low country, its movements appearing to be regulated by the weather and 
monsoon winds. In the south-west of the island I have noticed it at the seaside only during the first thiee 
, » .i v „ ar although I have seen it in the hilly parts of the interior during the S.W. monsoon, at 
months o y » Qf t}(C c lon Public Works Department, lias observed it at Puttalam. In the 
th iTl have seen it at both seasons of the year, but am of opinion that it is no more than a straggler 
that fiat re-ion traversing it in the course of a day’s wandering from its head-quarters in the lulls. In 
the Kandyan Province it is a common bird and a permanent resident there^ It appears to prefer the dry 
chmate of Uva to other parts, although I have noticed it in most of the eoffee-distncts. It is sometimes 
