iVESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 531 



breeding. The White-rumped Swift also breeds in company with the 

 Spiue-tailed Swift on the ledges of rock under the Kegon Waterfall. 



Two seasons in succession Mr. Owston first noticed the retmn of 

 the Wliite-nmiped S%vifts on the 15th of May — springtime in the north. 

 But one mid-winter — 26th December, 1897 — he saw more than a dozen 

 of these birds when he thought they should have been away down south, 

 perchance enjoying an Australian summer. By a somewhat strange 

 coincidence, that was about the time of great bush fires, particularly in 

 Tasmania and also on parts of the mainland, the smoke of which 

 covered the face of the land and sea for thousands of miles. Could 

 these Swifts have possibly lost their way and returned to the land of 

 their nativity? 



Sub-family — ChjEturik.iE. 



424. — Ch^etura caudacuta, Latham. — (51) 

 SPINE-TAILED SWIFT. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. ii., pi. 10. 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xvi., p. 472. 



Geograjjliical Disfrihiition. --AustraMa, and Tasmania; also South- 

 eastern MongoUa, Eastern Siberia, China and Japan. Reported twice 

 as a straggler to Great Britain. 



Nest and Eggs. — Undescribed. 



Ohservatiom. — All field observers have noticed the appearance of 

 Swifts in summer, especially if the weather be hot and sidtry. These 

 extraordinary birds are well named, for we could imagine none swifter 

 in flight. Seen against the sky. the long tapering wings give the bird 

 a crescent-shaped form, with its body like a short .staff stuck into the 

 centre of the crescent. Thus it cuts the air at a tremendous speed. 

 Gould states that it is possible for a Swift to be hawking for flies on 

 the Continent of Australia at one hour, and at the next to be similarly 

 emploj^ed across the Bass Strait in Tasmania. 



The Spine-tailed Swift is more frequently seen than the White- 

 rimiped, and is one of the largest of its family in the world. The bird 

 derives its vernacular name from the row of spines that fringe the end 

 of the feathers of the short tail. Tlie general plumage is brown and 

 velvety black, with green and pui-plish reflection, relieved by part of 

 the flanks and imder tail coverts being white. Total length, 1\ inches, 

 including the tail 2i inches, while the wing is 8i inches, exceeding the 

 total of the bird by an inch, which is sufiicient to account for the 



