4/4 



^^ESrS AND EGGS Of AUSTRALIAN' BINDS, 



The breeding season includes the months from September to 

 January. 



The Wood Swallows have been charged with killing bees, and no 

 doubt they do, as they are by nature insectivorous, but think of the 

 niunbcr of noxious and destructive insects they kill as well. Lumholtz 

 and other observers state that the Common Wood Swallow has been 

 seen feeding the young of the Koel. 



I was once privileged to observe the peculiar habit first mentioned 

 by Gould of the Wood Swallows hanging together in clusters. It was 

 diu'ing one autumn, on the Upper Yarra track, when numbers of the 

 birds congregated at evening, bunching about the hollow spouts of 

 lofty trees. 



Regarding this extraordinary clustering habit, Messrs. William and 

 Franlv Brown, of Kent Group, who have paid particulai' attention to 

 the birds of their islands, described to me how the Wood Swallows 

 clustered in hundreds diuing certain seasons, especially if cold. Some- 

 times they formed a bunch near the groimd, hanging on to each other, 

 but always head uppemiost, at other times higher in a tree. Where 

 they have been hanging, occasionally a few dead ones have been found 

 underneath, probably having succumbed to cold or suffocation. It is 

 presumed the bu'ds huddle together for wai-mth, because these curious 

 congi'egations, about two armfuls round, were usually observed during 

 cold or rainy weather. When suddenly dispersed by fright, &c., 

 the simultaneous noise created by .the multitude of wings has been 

 compared to a mUd clap of thunder, 



Some of the birds, on being handled, leave the taint of an abomin- 

 able odour — compared to that of decomposing meai: — on one's fingers. 



390. — Artamus minor, Vieillot. — (74) 

 LITTLE WOOD SWALLOW. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. ii., pi. 28. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xiii., p. 20. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Ramsay . Proc. Linn. See, N.S. 



Wales, vol. vii., p. 407, pi. 3, figs. 9-10 (1S82) ; Campbell : 



.Southern .Science Record (18S3). 



Geographical Distribution. — ^Australia, except South and Victoria. 



Ned'. — The usual open, slightly-built structure ; placed in any con- 

 venient position, on stump or tree, often in the entrance of a hollow 

 spouted branch. 



Eygs. — ^Clutch, three ; stout oval in shape ; texture of shell fine ; 

 surface glossy ; colour, yellowish-white, blotched and spotted, chiefly on 

 or around the upper quarter, with umber and dull-gi'cy. Dimensions 

 in inches of a jjair : (1) •? x '55, (2) -7 x '54. 



