466 



NES7'S AND EGGS Of AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



north with two other namesakes (A. sordidux and probably A. leuro- 

 gaster) in September, retiring again the beginning of March. Plants its 

 nest, a poor structure (little giass and rootlets), on the ledge of the 

 loose eucalypt bark, at a height of from ten to twenty feet." 



A Coomooboolaroo (Queensland) note, which I mentioned in the 

 " Australasian," in 1886, states an instance of the interbreeding of this 

 species with the A. personnlu^ — a male of the Wliite-browed species 

 being mated to a female of the Masked Wood Swallow. Albino eggs 

 of the White-browed species have been taKen on the same station. 

 My son also took a pair of such eggs in Victoria. 



From a correspondent, then (1889) at Cooper's Creek, I received 

 eggs of the White-browed Wood Swallow taken as early as the 4th 

 August. Therefore we may say that the laying months begin in 

 August aiid tenninate in December, the earlier months of coiU'se 

 applying to its interior habitat. 



The call of the Wliite-browed Wood Swallow is a plaintive whistle- 

 like note, generally uttered when on the wing. The alarm note seems 

 to sound like " whamp." There are other notes sounding like 

 " tut-tut-tut " rapidly repeated. 



385. — Artamus personatus, Gould, — (78) 

 MASKED WOOD SWALLOW. 



Figure— Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. ii., pi. 31. 



Referenre. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xiii., p. 16. 



Previous Decriplions of Eggs.^GowXA : Birds of Australia (1848); 



also Handbook, vol. i., p. 151 (1S65) ; North : Austn. Mus. 



Cat., p. 44 (1889). 



Gengrapliical Distribution. — South Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, South, West, and North-west Australia. 



Ne.if. — In general similar to that of A. siipercilio-tu.i; composed of 

 dead branching twigs as a foundation, then green portions of shrubs, 

 finally a goodly hning of fine rootlets, dry grass, and chiefly a green 

 wiry grass, and situated in a bush or low branch of a tree from IJ feel 

 to 8 or 10 feet above the ground. Dimensions over all, 4i inches by 3.^ 

 inches in depth ; egg cavity, 21 inches across by li inches deep. 



Eggs. — Clutch, two to three ; stout oval in shape or sharply 

 pointed at one end ; texture of shell fine ; surface glossy ; colour, light 

 greenish-grey, mottled and clouded, chiefly around the upper quarter, 

 with umber and dull-grey, resembling exactly those of the A. stuper- 

 rHioKi/s. Dimensions in inches of a clutch: (1) -88 x -66, (2) -88 x -66. 

 (3) -8 X -67. 



Ohservntimu. — This handsome Wood Swallow and the A. .•tuperriJin.^vs 

 are probably more nearly related than any other two of the Artami. 



