Gould was indebted to the ornithologist, Surgeon-Major Dr. T.C. Jerdon for the specimen of this martin. Jerdon wrote 'I procured it at Darjeeling, at about 4,500 ft. in elevation, in the valley of the Rungnoo, near the mineral springs. I found it flying over the jungles in large flocks, towards the close of the rains and during the cold weather.
The birds are depicted lifesize.
T.C. Jerdon, Birds of India, 1862-64, I, p.168
DISTRIBUTION: Southern Asia: northern and central India to western Burma and northern Vietnam