556 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 
in small parties during tbe cool weather, and merely shifting its 
haunts from exposed to sheltered localities according to the 
severity of the season. In Southern China it is by no means 
so common as the Chimney-Swallow, and far more locally dis¬ 
tributed ; but in Formosa, both north and south, it abounds 
in almost every homestead. Being a resident bird, and not sub¬ 
ject to distant migrations, we should naturally expect, according 
to recent theories, to find it subject to some variation through its 
insular position; and this we do observe in the larger form, 
longer wing, and almost entire absence of the red nuchal collar 
in our bird. The same facts are observed and indirectly admitted 
in the variety prevalent at Japan by a thorough anti-Darwinian— 
Professor Schlegel, who is so struck with the differences offered 
by the Japanese bird as to make of it a subspecies under the 
term H. alpestris japonica. The variations in the Formosan bird 
are, however, too trifling to found on them a new species; and 
were not the triple nomenclature held in such objection by the 
majority of modern naturalists, we could not do better than 
employ it in this instance. On taking possession of our native 
house at Tamsuy, I observed a nest of this Swallow under the 
rafters in the central hall. It was exteriorly built of specks of 
mud, like the nests of the Martin, but had a neck-like entrance, 
giving the whole the form of a French flask, flattened against 
the roof; the inside was lined amply with feathers. Pallas's 
figure gives a very good idea of its structure. The mouth, 
however, does not always point upwards, but is adapted in form 
and direction to the shape of the spot against which it is placed. 
At the close of March the pair to which the nest belonged 
returned, and in April began to repair the old nest. Towards 
the close of this month the female was sitting on three white, 
unspotted eggs. The male and female share the duties of 
incubation, the female usually taking the longest spell. For the 
sake of science, we let the birds have their own way, though they 
made a great mess about our small house, and nearly drove us 
wild with their loud, discordant twittering. 
In a ramble one spring morning, at dawn, I saw large numbers 
of these Swallows perching on some high bamboos. The sun 
was fast dispelling the thick night-fog that still hung low and 
