468 



NESTS A.VD EGGS OE AC'STKAEJAN BIRDS. 



containing a pair of fresh eggs, in the Murray district, near Benjeroop. 

 Tlie nest was slightly concave, somewhat frail, and composed of dead 

 flowering stalks of a certain plant and a few twigs, and hned with 

 grass. Not far distant was a nest of its White-browed cousin 

 (A. supercUinaua) made of similar material. 



I quote the following from remarks kindly furnished me by 

 Mr. James McDougall, Yorkc Peninsula, South Australia: — "Artamux 

 persoiiatus. — The Masked Wood Swallow appeared in numbers in 

 September, 1885, and nested the following month, the nest being 

 indistinguishable from those of the common Wood Swallow 

 fA. nordidtis). The males were very few in proportion to the number 

 of females. Absent 1886 and 1887." 



I stated in a previous part of my observations on this Wood 

 Swallow that odd pairs accompanied the White-browed birds on thou- 

 visits southward. But the year 1895 was a most remarkable excep- 

 tion, when flocks of the Masked species appeared independently in 

 Victoria. Tlie early flocks arrived in the first week in November, or 

 a month after the first of the White-browed birds. My son reported 

 he had seen flocks in the vicinity of Springvale, near the Gippsland i-ail- 

 way line. To verify his statement Mr. Gillespie and I repaired thither 

 on the afternoon of the 30th November. Wc had no .sooner left the 

 station than a flock of mostly Masked Wood Swallows rose from some 

 low scrub, where we took two or three nests. (See illustration of one.) 

 We then proceeded through the timber where more of the Masked 

 birds were distributed, with an occasional pair of the White-browed 

 variety. In taking the eggs we were very careful to discriminate 

 between the two species, always waiting for the owners to return and 

 claim their nests. 



In addition to three nests of the White-browed Wood Swallow, the 

 following is my record for the Masked variety that afternoon :■ — 



The majority of the eggs were quite fresh. My companion found 

 a similar number of nests. We hunted for about three hours and were 

 never out of the one paddock, which contained many acres, and was 



