COLLOCALIA. 439 



liariiiii a iiiflallic Inslr'' >r/,icli is niorr proiKniiirfil on l]i,' ujijipi- iriiig-rovf'.rU: Inr<'S and Par-covr/s 

 sinJikii-hi-o>rii: a nnrruir ring nf fpallurs aruitnil llir .•//>' hltick: nil tlo' iinder aarfao' nil/cy-ljronmish- 

 yi'f'y, jiassinij into a dnslnj-yrey on the lnngp.il np/ier lailcacerl^ ; hill (of skin) lilack; fvl, hhickish- 

 bro/rn. TiiIhI leiKitlt I^-.'i hicliPx, tinny ,^v7, tail ,?■/, hill O'^, tarniis 0-37. 



AduI.T FKMALK. — Similaf III. pi II iiinyp to tlip iiiiiIp, 



Diitrihiilioii. — North-eastern (hieensland and some of the contii;uous islands. 



TCFNl'IvIXG the X'oyage of If. M.S. " Rattlesnake," the late .Mr. John MacGillivray collected, 

 J — y on the 4th Jane, 1847, specimens of a Swift on Dunk- Island, off the coast of North- 

 eastern (Queensland. It was not, however, until 1873 that it was obtained on the mainland, 

 Dr. E. P. Ramsay characterising it in the followinL; year in the " Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society of London," under the name of Cvpscliis tirrd-i-(\i;inie, and where he remarks: — " " 'I he 

 texture of the plumage is remarkably soft, and to tiie touch resembles the fur of a Bat. 



" This species frequents the north-east coast ranges, near Cardwell, Rockingham Bay, 

 where it is tolerably plentiful, but very difficult to procure, from its small size and swift flight. 

 Small flocks may be seen flying to and fro over the clearer parts of the lower spurs of the coast 

 ranges, and frequently the same troop returns to the same open ground day after day ; towards 

 evening others may be found sweeping over the tops of the scrubs and about precipitous sides 

 of tlie rocky ridges, where they doubtless breed. I found several young or immature-plumaged 

 birds, and none amongst those I obtained had the tail fully grown. I have never seen this 

 species in any other part of Australia than Rockingham Bay. It was observed in the neighbour- 

 hood of Cardwell during October, 1873, and when I left in .-Vpril, 1874, was still numerous there. 

 For the first knowledge of this and several other new and rare species, I am indebted to Inspector 

 Robert Johnstone, of the police force on the Herbert River, near Cardwell, as well as for much 

 valuable information on the natural history of that interesting region." 



Count Salvadori, in his "Ornitologia della Papuasiae delle Molucche," 1 places Dr. Ramsay's 

 Cvpsclus ti-mi-ivgiiue as a synonym of Collocalia spodiopy^;!!!, and Dr. K. Hartert, m the " Catalogue 

 of Birds in the British Museum," ; relegates both Collocalia spodiopygia and C. It-ii'a-reginiC to 

 synonyms of C. fraiicii-a. A specimen of the former in the .--Vustralian Museum, from Upper 

 Rewa, Fiji, may be distinguished from .'\ustralian examples by being smaller and darker in 

 colour, and eleven nests collected in Fiji are also much smaller than those taken on Dunk Island. 



In February, 1910, Mr. E. J. Banheld presented two nests and three eggs of this species to 

 the Trustees, taken by him on Dunk Island. In his recent work " Aly Tropic Isle,"|l he there 

 refers to the breeding haunts of this species : — " No nests were found in crevices deemed to be 

 favourable spots, though the predilection of the genus for gloom was appreciated, but upon the 

 exploration of a confined cave the excited fluttering of invisible birds betrayed a hitherto well- 

 kept secret. When my eyes became accustomed to the dimness I saw that the roof of the cave 

 (which is fairly smooth and regular, with an inclination of about thirty degrees) was studded 

 with nests. Fifty-three were placed irregularly about the middle of the roof, some in pairs, 

 none on the walls. Some were not (juite finished. Twenty contained a single white egg each ; 

 some contained young. All were adherent to the stone by a semi-transparent white substance 

 resembling isinglass, with which also the fine grass, moss and fibre composing the nests were 

 consolidated. The vegetable material of the first fragmentary nest (found September 17th, 1908) 

 was quite green, and the gluten moist and sticky. Those now described (two months later) 

 were dry and tough, the dimensions being 2 to 2.V inches across and about -^- inch deep. The 

 cave is only about 30 feet above high water mark, and the entrance the birds favour is, strange 

 to say, averse from the sea and much obscured by leafage. 



* Proc. Zool. Soc, iy74, p. 601. f Orn. Pap. et Moluc, Part I., p. 547 (1880). 



t Cat. Bds- Brit. Mus., Vol. XVI,, p. 592 (1892). !| My Tropic Isle, pp. 203 4 (1911). 



