/VJS7S A.VD ECGS OF ALSVKAI.IAN lil/WS. 



457 



done to ko(.'jj oul cui'inics, tlio gioatost of whicli lici'c appoar to be lliu 

 uiiporLed Sparrow and iStai'ling. These birds squeeze through the 

 suiall space loft by the Swallows and turn out the little occui>auts. 



Mr. Mollor and his unilc, Mr. \V. White, encourage these dear little 

 iMartiiis about their houses (Iveedbeds, South Australia) by placing 

 portions of hollow limbs against the wall or by the eaves, wherein the 

 little birds breed and ;u'c quite happy. 



On Vorke I'eniusula, Mr. James G. McDuugall nil'uniied nie that 

 tliis Swallow piles grass together in holes in the elills, and lavs three 

 eggs in a mivss of feathers, September to October. 



381. I'liTKUUUJiLlDUN AKlliL, (JouUl. (56) 



FxilRY MAllTIN. 



I'i^urt. — tlould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. ii., pi. 15. 



Rifcreiui:. — Cat. Uirds Brit. Mus., vol. x., p. 199. 



Prcviou, Descriplio/ii oj liggs. — Gould: Birds of Au.-ilr.dia (1S4})); 

 also Handbook, vol. 1., p. 114 (1865); Ramsay: lbi.'>, p. ^99 

 (1S65); North: Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 3;^ (1889). 



O'euyrti pineal Distribution. — Australia in general and Tasmania. 



Xest. — Bottle-shaped ; built of mud or clay, and placed singly, but 

 more usually adjoining each other in cluster's on the face of a cUfi' or 

 overhanging rocky river Ijauk, in a cavity of a tree, or on the wall of 

 a building close to the caves of the roof, under bridges, &c. The necks 

 or entraucos have a downwai'd or rather upward tendency, while the 

 inside body is lined with soft grasses and feathers. Sometimes previous 

 nesting places are rebuilt or repaired. 



Eijijs.. — Clutch, four to five : lengthened in form or oval ; texture of 

 shell very fine ; surface glossy ; colour, white, but occasionally 

 faintly freckled, especially about the apex, with light yellowish-brown. 

 Dimensions in inches: (1) -7 x -48. (2) -7 x -48, (3) -7 x -48. 



Obnervatioiis. — Like the Swallow and the Tree Martins, the elegant 

 httle Fairy Martin is dispersed over the southern portions of Australia 

 ui summer, where it commences to aiiive in August, a few reaching 

 the northern parts of Tasmania probably in September. On 12tli 

 October, 1893, Dr. \V. Macgillivray infonned me he first noted their 

 appearance at Launceston. Mr. S. H. Wintle, geologist, was the 

 fii'st observer to direct attention ("Victorian Naturalist," February, 

 1887) to the fact that the Fairy Martin should be placed on the 

 Tasmanian list of avifauna, because he had found the bird breeding at 

 Bridport, the sea.son of 1883, and other years. The Faii-y is more 

 strictly migratory than the two other Swallows above mentioned, for 

 after Febiniary or March the birds are rarely seen except in the 

 northern parts of the Continent. Dming the intci-val of summer, two 



