530 



NESTS AXD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



ORDER PICARI/E.-PICARIAN BIRDS. 

 Sub-order — Coraciae. 



FAMILY— CYPSELID^ : SWIFTS. 



SUH-FAMII-Y CypSELIN^. 



423. — MicEOPus PACiFicus, Latham. — (52) 



WHITE-RUMPED SWIFT. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. ii., p!. ii. 

 Refcrenfe. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xvi., p. 448. 



GenfiropliirnI Dixtrihitiiin. — Au.stralia in general and Tasmania 

 (occa.sional) ; also Japan, China. Mongolia, Burmali, Cachar, Assam, &c. 



Nest. — Plaxied on the ledge of a eliff. 



Ffff/^. — Clutch, two usually ; oval in shape, while others arc exceed- 

 ingly elongated and bluntly pointed at the smaller end ; texture of 

 shell fine ; .siuface has a slight trace of gloss ; colour, pure white. 

 Dimensions in inches of a proper clutch: (l) 1-01 x -66, (2) lOx'Gj 

 of a more oval example : -95 x •?. 



Ohserrtitioii.^. — The Australian or Wiiite-runipcd Swift may some- 

 times be .seen united in flocks with the Spine-tailed, the two 

 species hawking together in our cloudless southern skies. 'Die 

 Australian Swift has been once recorded for Tasmania. It comci 

 to Australia from Ea.stcrn Siberia, over Japan, China, Burmah. 

 &c., returning thither about February. 1 have noted tlieni in 

 Riverina up to the first week in March. I pos,sess a rarity in the 

 shape of the egg of an Australian Swift, which wa,s presented 

 to me by the late Dr. Kiittrr, of Gennany, and wa'^ taken by 

 Dr. Dybowski in Eastern Siberia. I have since received a projicr clutch 

 from Mr. Alan Owston. J<vpan, who tells me that when on a yachting 

 cruise to an island called Ukishima. which is about half-a-milc long, 

 two hundred feet high, covered with evergreens and bamboo .scnib, 

 with cliffs all round, and about twenty imles south of Yokohama, he 

 examined som(> caves on the south side, where he roughly estimated 

 there must have been not less th.m 2.000 Wliite-rumped SwifiB 



