452 



X£SrS AXD EGGS Of AVSTRAUAX BIRDS. 



I see the bird, home recollections of the warmest kind, ^t the Downs. 

 of Queensland, the bird is only a pai-tial migiant. Like the Reed 

 Warbler, the Swallow resembles in all respects its European prototype, 

 with the exception, as far as I know, of not planting its nest inside a 

 chimney where the egress of smoke plays round the edifice. The 

 Swallow makes use of wool-sheds and eaves of houses for the open 

 cradle. In the wilds I have found the nest fixed on a log standing out 

 of water, on a shelf of rock, and once in a lime cave, on the top of a 

 liigh stalagmite, close imder a small opening which led to the exterior 

 world. When in proximity to man, extraordinary situations are some- 

 times chosen. By Yandilla, a pulsometcr, used for irrigation pui-poses 

 to let down a shaft forty-two feet, liad on a spar of its frame a nest 

 neatly placed thereon. At Glenelg (Mclntyre Brook), a window-pane 

 in the house of the overseer was out, the Welcome Swallow made use 

 of such an opportunity (opening) by fastening the home of its future 

 generation on to the .shelf in the corner of the room where it was 

 protected by the dwellers. But the greatest proof of attachment to 

 Inunan care occun-ed in the wool-shed of the same place, where the 

 nest was resting on one of the uprights belonging to the screw-press 

 frame, which was constantly moving up and down the whole day for 

 a fortnight, with men pressing wool, while the Swallow was sitting on 

 two eggs, but these afterwards proved rotten, the movement had been 

 too much, As an eye-vntness. I can vouch for the truth of this 

 statement." 



With regard to remarkable places for nesting. Dr. Ramsay says : • — 

 ■' In 1858, while fishing off a small steamer, which, having been out 

 of use for some months, was moored a few hundred yards from the 

 North Shore, in Sydney Harbour. I observed a pair of these Swallows 

 fly roimd the boat and frequently dive underneath the paddle-box. 

 After a long search I discovered their nest, which was composed of 

 thick pitchy mud, lined with seaweed and feathers. It was placed 

 upon one of the horizontal beams of the paddle-box, and contained three 

 young ones about half-fledged. The man in charge infonned me the 

 nest had been made when the steamer was lying lower down the 

 harbour, and upon its being tugged to where it then lay, the birds flew 

 round and round it the whole time, e\'idently in a great state of 

 excitement." Wliile mentioning about Swallows building afloat, a pair 

 once used a steamer on the River Murray, and another pair betook to 

 a cutter at Green Lsland. in Bass .Strait. 



Mr. Gregorj- Bateman tells me of an instance he knew of a nest 

 built on a mantel-shelf in a hut in Riverina. The bird allowed itself 

 to be stroked gently on the nest. 



" A very interesting item of natiu'al histoiy comes to us from 

 Ocean Grove," wrote the " Melbourne Daily Telegraph," 13th Sep- 

 tember, 1889 : — " One of Cobb & Co.'s coaches leaves Ocean Grove for 

 the nearest railway station every day about 11.30 a.m., reaching the 

 station in time for the noon train from Queenscliff to Melbourne. 

 Inside this coa«h, which is a small one, a pair of Swallows have 

 commenced to build their nest. On two or three occasions the driver 

 of the coach knocked the nest down, but every day the birds began to 



