326 
COLLOCALIA Fit A NCI CA. 
the “ Haycock ” mountain, as also another in the Nitre-cave district. Besides these there are, I believe, 
colonies in the “ Friars-Hood ” or some of the surrounding rock-hills and in Rittagalla, the above- 
mentioned mountain situated between the Central and Trincomalie roads. The celebrated cave in the 
Haputale range, and the only one which I have had the good fortune to visit, is situated in a hold peak 
standing out above and towering over the Dambetenne and adjoining estates, which form one of the finest 
sweeps of coffee-ground in Ceylon. On a sultry day in May 1876, my friend Mr. Bligh and myself set out 
from Catton bungalow to see the Swifts’ cave. A long tramp round the adjacent spur brought us to the gorge 
in which lies the fine estate of Mousakella, up which we toiled, gradually winding our way up the zigzag paths, 
and at last reached the inviting shade of the tall forest crowning the top of the ridge. Here our journey was 
enlivened by the notes of the usual denizens of these belts of fine jungle ; and as we trudged along, listening to 
the clear, strong whistle of the Grey-headed Flycatcher, the churr of the handsome Trogon, and the twittering 
of the brilliant “ Sultan-bird” (Pericrocotus flammeus), we congratulated ourselves that we had reached the 
highest point of our journey (6000 feet), and that we had but a short and^immediate descent to our destination. 
Another half-mile and we had passed over the ridge and came into sudden view of the glorious prospect 
beneath, such a one as only can be witnessed in the higher ranges of the beautiful Central Province. Before 
us lay a magnificent amphitheatre, the top of it a dark sweep of forest, and the middle a splendid basin of 
coffee, consisting of the Dambetenne and Piteratmalie estates, in luxuriant growth, between which and ourselves 
a narrow ravine ran down from the range on our right and suddenly opened out into an abysmal gorge, the 
wooded slopes of which stretched up to the foot of the coffee. In these woods Mr. Bligh, some years previous, 
had discovered the handsome Whistling Thrush ( Arrenga blighi). At a point where the great gorge suddenly 
commenced, by a sheer precipice dropping down about 1000 feet into the lower estate, stood the fine bungalow 
occupied by the gentleman, Mr. Imray, who was to be our kind host for the night ; and at the back of this, 
at the top of a rich slope of coffee, towered up a rocky buttress, in which the Swiftlets of Haputale propagate 
their species. In this precipice a vast boulder, about 70 feet in height and 50 in breadth, has at some period 
slipped away from the face of the mountain, and leans against it at an angle of about 30°, forming a lofty 
narrow cavern. Here about 300 pairs of birds have their nests built against the inner side of the boulder, 
which is convex and corresponds with the concave face of the main mass. There are no nests on this latter, 
down which there is doubtless a considerable amount of drainage ; and the instinct of the little birds is here 
wonderfully displayed in rejecting the wet side of the cavern, which would seriously impair the stability of 
their gelatinous nests. These are placed in tiers, one above the other, about 15 feet from the guano at the 
bottom of the cave ; in places three or four were joined together, the back part of the under nest being 
prolonged up to the bottom of the one above it. The little structures were by no means edible, being- 
constructed of moss and fine tendrils, arranged in layers and cemented with the inspissated saliva of the bird, 
the back part attaching the nest to the rock, as well as the interior of the cup, being, however, entirely of this 
material. I have seen one or two nests from Pittegalla almost wholly made of this substance; but even these 
were mixed, to a certain extent, with foreign or vegetable material. The interior of these Dambetenne nests 
was in most cases oval, the longest diameter, which varied from 2 to 2 A inches, being parallel to the rock. In 
depth the egg-cup was, on the average, about 1 inch. At the date of my visit, the 22nd May, nearly all the 
nests contained young, two being the average number. A series of eggs procured at another time, and which 
I have examined, were of various shapes, long ovals being the predominant ; they are pure white, and varied 
from 0-81 to 0 - 83 inch in length by 0 - 5 1 to 0 - 54 in breadth. It is noteworthy that the partially-fledged 
young which were procured for me on this occasion, and which I kept for the night, scrambled out on to the 
exterior of the nests and slept in an upright position, with the bill pointed straight up. This is evidently the 
normal mode of roosting resorted to by the species. 
The interior of this cave, with its numbers of active tenants, presented a singular appearance. The bottom 
was filled with a vast deposit of liquid guano, reaching, I was informed, to a depth of 30 feet, and composed of 
droppings, old nests, and dead young fallen from above, the whole mingled into a loathsome mass with the 
water lodged in the crevice, and causing an awful stench, which would have been intolerable for a moment 
even had not the hundreds of frightened little birds, as they screamed and whirred in and out of the gloomy 
cave with a hum like a storm in a ship’s rigging, powerfully excited my interest and induced a prolonged 
examination of the colony. This guano-deposit is a source of considerable profit to the estate, the hospitable 
