320 
CYPSELUS AFFINIS. 
met with about Nuwara Elliya and on the Horton Plains, hut in all probability does not roost in such high 
regions. 
It is a bird of very extensive range, for besides inhabiting the whole of India and W estern Asia as far 
as Palestine, where it is the C. galilaensis of Antinori, it extends through Africa to the extreme south. 
Although found throughout India from the south to the Himalayas, Jerdon remarks that large tracts oi 
country may be traversed at times without seeing a single individual, and Mr. Hume has likewise found it 
to be very local. In many parts of Sindh he met with it commonly, but throughout Upper Sindh to 
Selnvan he did not see it. At Mount Aboo and the plains of the surrounding country it is common, breeding 
in the celebrated Dilwarra temples. It is rare in the Deccan ; and Col. Sykes remarks that though found in 
all districts in India, it is often confined to a small tract in the neighbourhood of some fine large pagodas 
and other buildings. In the central regions of Nepal it is said by Hodgson to remain throughout the year. 
In Palestine Canon Tristram records that it is a permanent resident in the Jordan valley, while every other 
species of its genus is migratory there. In the portions of Africa which are inhabited by it it is likewise 
n on-migratory. With regard to this peculiarity in its economy, it is singular that the same is true of its 
representative on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, the Cypselus subfurcatus of Blyth, which Mr. Swinhoe 
recorded as “ resident on the Chinese coast ” as far north as Amoy. 
Habits . — In the mountains of Ceylon this stout little Swift is usually seen coursing over coffee-estates, 
steep patnas, or the so-called “ Plains ” in the upper ranges, while in the low country it affects every variety 
of open situation, particularly on sultry rainy evenings, when the damp tropical air is teeming with an abundance 
of insect-food. It congregates in large flocks, and hawks about with a rapid powerful flight, careering round 
and round at a great height, and then suddenly descending, will fly as low as the Common Swallow', picking 
up its evening meal right and left with no apparent exertion. In the hills it consorts with the Swittlet, and 
may often be seen late in the evening flying with that species in some given direction on its way to a distant 
roosting-place, probably some inaccessible cliff where it has been bred. It is not usually a noisy bird, its 
note being a weak scream, resembling that of the European Swift, but not so soft in tone, and which Blyth 
styled a “ shivering ” cry. In the breeding-season, however, its cries are incessant ; packing in small troops 
like the common Swift of Europe, it dashes round the spot where its nests are swarming with young, 
alighting for an instant to convey to the hungry mouths the food which it carries in its bill, and then 
sweeping off in a body, separates in search of a fresh store or continues its circular peregrinations. Jerdon, 
who remarks that its flight is fluttering and irregular in the morning and evening, writes that “ small 
parties at these times may be seen flying close together, rather high up in the air and slowly, with much 
fluttering of the wdngs and a good deal of twittering talk ; and after a short period of this intercourse all 01 
a sudden they separate at once and take a rapid downward plunge, again to unite after a longer or shorter 
interval.” They may occasionally be seen flying beneath culverts and road-bridges like a Swallow, evidently 
feeding on the insects which congregate about the water in such places. Mr. Blyth, it may be remarked, 
has stated that he has seen this Swift rise from off the ground. 
Nidification . — This species breeds either in large colonies or in company with a few of its fellows, and 
rears its young at various periods between the months of March and J uly. It builds in the verandahs of 
outhouses, beneath bridges and culverts, under overhanging rocks, or in caves, in all of which situations 
I have known its nest to be found. Layard found them breeding at Dambulla in April about the rocks 
there, and at Tangalla beneath a bridge. I met with a large colony nesting in March in a salt-store at 
Kirinde, and another in May under the celebrated wooden bridge at Wellemade in Uva. In the month of 
April several pairs used to breed annually in a small seaside cave near Trincomalie. Mr. Holdsworth 
found it nesting “under the rocks overhanging the entrance to the famous temple at Dambulla.” The 
nest is constructed of feathers, straw, grass, and at times pieces of rag, wool, twine, or any miscellaneous 
material which the bird can find and which will assort well with the rest of the structure. The whole mass 
is firmly cemented together with the saliva of the bird, and is shaped in accordance with the situation 
in w'hich it is built, which likewise determines the position of the aperture. The interior is spacious, and 
sometimes several nests are fastened together. Nests which I have seen in caves or beneath bridges 
