A'ii.SiS A.\D tOGS OJ- AiSfKALlilN lilRUS. 



4i5 



JJuiiiig llio CaKxit Expedition iiumbui» of llifsc pretty Swallows 

 were seen tuunuliug m the sandy crowu of a hill near Cue ou Juue l28th, 

 1896, wliilst others wore examining creviees in the rocks. Mr. G. L. 

 Joue.s climbed to several places from which he saw the bii'ds emerge, 

 but found the nests were unfinislied. These Swallows were sub- 

 sequently seen as the desert was entered, and on September 2Uth 

 specimens of young birds just able to fiy, in addition to adults of both 

 sexes, were noted. A few wore soaring overhead at Fitzroy River 

 during January and the two following months. Previously North-west 

 Austraha had not been included in the gcograpliical range of this bird. 



JMr. North informs us, through the late Mr. K. H. Bennett's MS. 

 notes, that the Black and White Swallow is widely distributed over the 

 timbered or " back country of the interior of New South Wales, and 

 is generally seen in small flocks of live or six in number, but is never 

 found ou the plains. Mr. Bennetts observations practically confirm 

 Gilbert's statement that this interesting Swallow drills holes in the 

 .sides of the entrances of the bui'rows of either the bettongia or peragales, 

 adding, whether the burrows are inhabited or not, and that the breeding 

 month is October. 



Again Mr. North writes : — " Mr. Edward Lord Ramsay informs me 

 lliat dining several years' residence on Wattagoona Station, near Louth, 

 in the interior of New South Wales, he found many nests of this 

 species. In favoui'able situations they breed in small communities, 

 boring a tunnel from eight inches to two feet in length in the loose 

 loamy soil of the bank of a dry creek or dam, at the extremity of which 

 a chamber is hollowed out, and on the bottom a small saucer-shaped 

 nest is formed of a thick layer of dead mulga (Acacia aneura) leaves. 

 Ill a number of nests examined, five eggs were the tisual number laid 

 for a sitting ; in one instance only did he find a nest containing six. ' 



With regard to the Black and White Swallow breeding near the sea- 

 coast, Mr. John W. Mellor, writing to me from South Australia, 

 states : — " This little Swallow is by no means plentiful near Adelaide. 

 I have only found a pair or two building near one anotlier. They 

 bm'row a hole about two or three feet long into the face of a sand clifl, 

 this hole is widened out at the extremity so as to make room for the 

 bird turning in the nest. Tlie nest itself is composed of small portions 

 of seaweed, also fine pieces of grass and thread-like roots of plants that 

 grow in the sandy soil, where the nests are nearly always situated. 

 1 have a clutch of five eggs taken from near Lake Alexandrina. It is 

 difficult to proctu'e the eggs, as the hole is too small to insert the hand, 

 and when once the entrance is enlarged the bird of course will forsake 

 tlie nest and commence burrowing elsewhere. This I experienced in 

 sever.",! cases down in the lakes Alexandrina and Albert district this 

 .season (1894). The clutch I send you was taken in December from a 

 red sand bank at the Reedbeds, about four miles west of Adelaide." 



I have also received eggs of this species taken near Port Lincoln, 

 South Australia. 



Breeding season September and the three following mouths. 



