1081. Collocalia fuciphaga.
The Indian Edible-nest Swiftlet.
Hirundo fuciphaga, Thunb. Kon. Svensk. Vet.-Ak. nya Handl. xxxiii, p. 151, pl. iv (1812). Hirundo unicolor, Jerdon, Mad. Jour. L. S. xi, p. 238 (1840); xiii, pt. 1, p. 173 ; xiii, pt. 2, p. 144. Cypselus concolor, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xi, p. 886 (1842). Collocalia unicolor, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, pp. 209, 212; Hume, S. F. i, pp. 295, 296; id. Cat. no. 103 ; Hume & Bourd. S. F. iv, p. 374; Vidal & Hume, S. F. ix, p. 44 ; Davison, S. F. x, p. 348; Terry, ibid. p. 470; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 87; Oates in Humeis N. & E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 28. Collocalia nidifica, Gray, Gen. B. i, p. 55 (1845); Blyth, Cat. p. 86, pt. ; Horsf. & M. Cat. i, p. 98, pt.; Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 182, pt. Callocalia brevirostris, apud Layard, A. M. N. H. (2) xii, p. 168, nec McClell. Collocalia fuciphaga, Wallace, P. Z. S. 1863, p. 384; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 420 ; Hartert, Cat. B. M. xvi, p. 498. Collocalia francica, apud Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. 132, partim; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 324; Morgan, Ibis, 1875, p. 313 ; nec Gmel.
Coloration. Very dark brown above, almost black, with purplish or greenish gloss on the wings and tail; rump not paler; lower parts greyish brown, the feathers sometimes dark-shafted. Tarsi quite naked.
Irides dark brown {Bourdillon).
Length about 4.75 ; tail 2.1; wing 4.6; tarsus .4. The middle tail-feathers are about half an inch short of the outer.
Distribution. Ceylon and the neighbourhood of the Malabar coast as far north as Vingorla, common on the higher hills, Nilgiris, Anamalis, &c. A few birds of this species have also been obtained in the Western Himalayas. Not known elsewhere within our area, but widely distributed in the Malay Archipelago, Papuasia, and the Philippines.
Habits, &c Those of the genus. The nests, found in caves in the Ceylon, Nilgiri, Palni, and Travancore hills, and on Vingorla Pocks, Pigeon Island, and other islets off the Malabar coast, are small shallow cups made of grass, moss, and feathers cemented together by inspissated saliva. They always contain extraneous materials and are never pure white. The breeding-season on the hills is from March to June, but on the coast rather earlier. The eggs, two in number, measure on an average .83 by .54.
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