472 



A'ES7S AXD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Xc^t. — Open, shallow ; coiistnutud of fine twigs and grass ; lined witli 

 wire-like rootlets (ocaisionally a nest is wholly made of rootlets), and 

 placed in any convenient situation, from a few feet to twenty feet from 

 the ground, in a thick bush or naked forked hmb of a tree, a niche of 

 bark on the side of a tree bole, or on a stump. Dimensions over all, 

 4 to 5 inches by 2i inches in depth; egg cavity, 2i inches across by IJ 

 inches deep. 



Eijii^. — Clutch, three, occasionally four ; somewhat oval in shape ; 

 textui-e of shell fine ; surface slightly glossy ; colour, yellowish or dull- 

 white, blotched and spotted, chiefly in the fomi of a ring round the upper 

 quarter, with umber and dull-grey. Dimensions in inches of a clutch : 

 (1) -9 X -65, (2) -9 X -65, (3) -87 x -64. (Plate 15.) 



Oliver I'atioiia. — The Wood Swallow's form is dusky grey, wings and 

 tail bluish-black, external edges of the wings wlute, tail also tipped with 

 white, bill bluish, tipped with black, and eyes dark-brown; total 

 length, 7 inches; wing, 5 inches; tail, 3 inches; and bill, | inch. 



It is a disputed point wlielher our famihar sombre-coloured Wood 

 Swallow is really migratoiy or not. Gould states it may be regarded 

 as a strictly migratory species in Tasmania. I always believed it 

 was a stationai-y species. It cei-tainly appears to be so on the 

 mainland, in the southern parts as well as in Queensland, where, 

 according to Dr. Ramsay, the bird does not range fui'ther north than 

 the Rockingham Bay district. Gould proceeds to observe that in size 

 and colouring he found no difference in the eastern and western birds, 

 while those from Tasmania were invariably larger in all their measure- 

 ments, and also of a deeper coloui-, facts wliich I think tend to prove 

 that they are an insular variety, and do not all leave Tasmania 

 in the winter, as is supposed by some collectors. During winter, no 

 doubt, many of these birds retire inland from the sea-board. In the 

 month of Jmie (1895), along the creeks in Riverina, I noticed small 

 famihes of the Wood Swallows, and occasionally a flock of a score or 

 more : a sufficient proof that they are not strictly migratoiy, or else 

 they would not have been so far south during winter. Near the coast 

 the Wood Swallows have been observed returning early in vSeptember. 

 (J. Sommers, 8th September, 1895, Cheltenham.) 



Mr. C. C. Brittlebank, writing from Myrniong, 16th April (1896), 

 says : — " The Wood Swallows are still with us. Sometimes they stay 

 all the winter. ■ Another time he wiites:— " 18th May (1897). Flight 

 of Sordid Wood Swallows passed over." In 1898 a correspondent in 

 the Mallee, Victoria, wrote: — "The Common Wood Swallows have 

 been here all the year." 



Writing under the )uim-<h'-}ihiiiic. "Nemo," to "The Australasian" 

 (2nd November, 1895), on the movements of the Wood Swallow, an 

 observing natmalist, living near the coast (at Inverloch, Victoria), 

 states : — " Referring to your very interesting notes on birds of Aus- 

 tralia, by Mr. Campbell, there is appai'ently a doubt amongst naturalists 

 as to whether the Wood Swallow is a migrant or not. I have taken 



