CYPSELUS B ATASSIENSIS. 
(THE PALM-SWIFT.) 
Cypselus batassiensis, Gray, Griff. An. Kingd. ii. p. 60 (1829) ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. 
E. I. Co. p. 128 (1854) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 180 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 840 ; Sclater, 
P. Z. S. 1865, p. 602 ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 420. 
Cypselus balasiensis, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 86 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. 
Hist. 1853, xii. p. 167. 
Cypselus balisiensis, Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 117. 
Cypselus puhnctrutn, Gray & Hardwicke, 111. Ind. Zool. i. pi. o5 (18o2) ; Hume, Nests and 
Eggs, i. p. 87 ; Ball, Str. Feath. 18 1 4, p. o84. 
Putta-deuli and Tari ababil. Hind.; Tal-chatta, Bengal, lit. “Palm-Swallow;” Batassia , 
Bengal (Jerdon) ; Chamchiki , Beng., a name also applied to Bats (Blyth). 
Wcehcelaniya, Sinhalese. 
Adult male and female. Length o' 1 to 5'3 inches ; wing 4'3 to 4'7 ; tail 2-4 to 2-8, outer feather l'O longer than the 
middle ; tarsus 0'4 ; middle toe and claw 0-32 ; bill to gape 0-5. The wings reach 0-5 beyond tail, which is deeply 
forked, with the feathers pointed at the tips. 
Iris sepia-brown ; bill black ; legs and feet vinous-brown ; claws blackish. 
Above glossy ash-brown, darkest on the head and tail ; the lower back and rump paler than the interscapular region 
and with dark shafts to the feathers ; quills blackish brown, with the internal margins slightly paler than the rest. 
Bases of the loral feathers white ; beneath mouse-grev ; the under tail-coverts with dark shafts, and the flanks darker 
than the breast. 
Young. On leaving the nest the young bird is clothed like the adult, but the upper surface is not so glossy. 
Distribution. — The little Palm-Swift is the most numerous of its genus in Ceylon, and is found throughout 
the entire low country and sub-liill region. It is seen now and then in the Kandy district ; but is not a 
permanent resident there, and on the Uva side of the Central Province it ascends from the plains in fine 
weather to a considerable altitude, Mr. Bligh informing me that he has seen it in Haputale as high as 4000 feet. 
It is a common bird in the south and west of the island, and more numerous on the sea-board than in the 
interior. In the palmyra-districts, on the northern coasts, it is very abundant, and is the only Swift, as far as 
I can ascertain, which commonly afl’ects the Jaffna peninsula and adjacent islands. 
As regards the Palm-Swift's distribution in India, Jerdon informs us that it is abundant in all districts 
where palmyra- and cocoannt-palms are found, and that it is common on the Malabar coast, the Carnatic, the 
northern Circars, and Bengal, but rare in the central tableland and North-west Provinces. In Chota Nagpur 
Mr. Ball says it is found in abundance where its favourite trees are common, and so local is it that he has 
observed a small colony settled in a single tree, where, perhaps, for many miles around not another tree or 
Swift could be found. It is said to extend into Assam and Burmah ; but this can only be as a straggler, as it 
is not recorded in f Stray Feathers ' from either Pegu or Tenasserim ; it is replaced in these provinces by 
Cypselus infumatus , the Sooty, or, as called by some, the “ Palm Roof-Swift.” It has not as yet been procured 
in Sindh. 
Habits. — The localities preferred by this Swift are fields and open lands in the vicinity of cocoanut- and 
palmyra-groves. In the northern parts of the island it is seen much about the sea-shore, which is, in many 
places, completely lined with the widely spread Borassus palm, its favourite tree all over India ; indeed J erdon 
remarks that it is seldom found at any distance from where this palm grows. This, however, is not its 
habit in Ceylon ; for it abounds in many parts of the W estern Province, where the tree is unknown, but 
where its place is supplied by the cocoanut, and particularly the areca-palm, around which latter it careers 
