43.S 



X/::STS AA'D ^GGS Ul- AUSTRALIAN BIKDS. 



or Llu'cc broods an; reared, la the Gascoync distrieL, Western Aus- 

 tralia, it has bceu observed tliat tlie Faiiy Martiu appears sometimes 

 about the eud of Jidy ('21stJ. A week later I have noticed several 

 pairs flyiug about theu' old breeding haunts, Eehuca, Victoria. I have 

 received eggs from Coopers Creek, taken as early as the 4th August, 

 while during a visit to Dubbo, New South Wales, in August, 1887, 

 JVlr. North observed these birds arrived in great numbers and eom- 

 luenced to biuld on the 17th of that month. Further south they 

 tonimeuce to lay September and October, and the season may be 

 considered at its zenith during the end of October or the beginning of 

 November. 



With regard to the Fairy Martin, Gould states ; — " The long, bottle- 

 shaped nest is composed of mud or clay, and like that of the Common 

 Martin (of Europe) is only worked at in the mormug and evening, 

 unless the day be wet or lowering. In the construction of the nests 

 these birds appear to work in small companies, six or seven assisting m 

 the formation of each iiest, one remaining within and receiving the mud 

 brought by others in thcii" mouths : in shape these nests are nearly 

 round, but vary in size from four to six or seven inches in diameter, 

 the spouts of some being eight or nine inches in length. When built 

 on the side of rocks, or in the hollows of trees, they are placed without 

 any regular older in clusters of tliirty or forty together, s(mie of the 

 spouts inclining downwards, others at right angles, &c." 



Mr. Harry Barnards observations in Queensland bear out Goulds 

 remarks that the bii'ds cease working at times, and that a number 

 assist to construct one nest. Sometimes a bird would enter fii-st, and, 

 turning round its pretty little body, would fill up the entrance, while 

 it commenced to build from within. 



Here we have Mr. Hermann Lau's desciiptive MS. notes : — 

 " Fairy Martin, by some persons called the ' Retort ' Swallow, on 

 accomit of the birds mud nest resembling such a shaped vessel used 

 in distillery works. The Fairy Martin is a true migi'aiit, but its 

 movements depend greatly on the weather. It arrives in South 

 Queensland (from the north) earlier than at other times. We had a 

 mild whiter in 1892, when this welcome little messenger made its 

 appearance at Yandilla on 11th August. 



" After rearing several broods they commence leaving at the latter 

 end of February. Soon after arrival nest builchng goes on witli great 

 assiduity. If the weather be hot, only a few hoars in the morning are 

 employed at tliis task, as the mortar or mud which is gathered from a 

 neighbouring lake or river shore gets too dry at noon. 



" In about a week the walls ai-e finished, and a neat little edifice 

 it is, but big in proportion to the thiy architect. The soft bed for 

 eggs and young is lined with gTas.s and feathers. The nests are often 

 so crowded together that they overlap one another. The natural site 

 chosen for nest building is either under a projection of rock, wall, or 

 under an excrescence of huge trees, but since the white race of man 

 came to Australia this Swallow, with natural fearlessness, encroaches on 

 more convenient places, namely, verandahs of houses, roofs of wool 

 sheds, bridges, &c. Bridges would be secure enough were it not for 



