236 HIRUNDINID.E. 



that they had seen birds fall and die in all directions, and had picked up many dead bodies. 

 They substantiated this by shewing me the remains of several birds which were alleged to have 

 died of the severe cold." 



The food of this species, like all the members of this family, consists exclusively of insects, 

 and is captured during flight. Its principal call note resembles " sweet, sweet," which is varied 

 occasionally, especially when perched, with a succession of cheerful and melodious strains. 



The nest of the Swallow is so well known as to barely need description. In form it varies 

 according to the position in which it is built. When placed upon the top of a ledge of masonry 

 or woodwork it is usually cup-shaped in form, but as often as not, if built in an angle, or a 

 horizontal wall forms one side of it. It is composed of pellets of mud, and is warmly lined inside 

 with dried grasses, horse-hair and feathers. An average nest measures externally five inches 

 in diameter by three inches in depth. Along the coasts of New South Wales, and also on the 

 rocky banks of the Upper Clarence River, I have found it nesting on ledges of rock or in small 

 hollowed out chambers in the side of, or underneath a hanging cliff. From Port Hacking to 

 Gerringong, in the Illawarra District, I have seen many nests with eggs or young in cliffs facing 

 the sea. It may have been heredity which caused these birds to cling to their natural breeding 

 places. Since the advent of settlers in Australia, this Swallow builds chiefly under the protection 

 of man, about houses, stables, or out buildings, or under verandahs, culverts, and bridges. At 

 Gerringong, a district devoted to dairying, I failed, however, to discover a single nest in any of 

 these situations, and there were large stables and cow sheds only a few hundred yards away 

 from the cliffs. About houses all kinds of situations are selected as nesting sites, the smooth 

 wall of an occupied room is often availed of, if a window or door is left open for ingress and egress. 

 At Mr. J. A. Boyd's house at Eden, I noted nests built between the ceiling and the roof, the 

 birds gaining access by way of the corrugations of the iron roof. In the hall two nests had been 

 built on aboriginal weapons placed on the walls; in the dining room one was built on the lamp 

 shade hanging down in the centre of the room. At Woodside near Coonamble in October 1905, 

 I found a pair had nearly completed their nest on the folds at the top of some white curtains in 

 the drawing room, access being gained by the birds through a fanlight and the French doors 

 remaining open all day. Mr. J. Gabriel informs me that at Werribee, Victoria, a pair nested 

 for several seasons in a disused dog-kennel. Dr. L. Holden found a nest in an old ship's galley, 

 lying on its side at the end of a sawmill jetty, and in a similar situation in a laid up cutter, 

 I saw a nest at Middle Harbour, on the 9th November, 1908, containing four nearly fledged 

 young. At Toorak, Victoria, I once found a nest containing young built on the remaining 

 half of a horizontally broken off hollow limb of a tree, the curved wood below forming a 

 resting place for the nest, and the upper portion a protection for the bird while sitting. 



A nest presented to the Trustees of the Australian Museum, by Mr. C. F. Bolton of 

 " Moorong," Wagga Wagga, is built in one of the most curious sites I have known this species 

 to select. It is placed on the top of a number of filed accounts. With it Mr. Bolton sent the 

 following note : — " lam sending you a Swallow's nest constructed in a peculiar position. I had 

 some files of bills hanging up in my 'gun-room ' on the verandah, in which is a broken pane of 

 glass. For three years a pair of Swallows built on each of these files, the fourth year they 

 re-occupied the nest I send you after repairs and additions to it." ]\Iiss. G. Ashcroft presented 

 a nest, in which four young ones were hatched, built on top of a round tin, just sufficiently large 

 enough for the structure, which was standing on a shelf at Crookweil. 



The eggs are four or five in number, oval or elongated oval in form, the shell being close- 

 grained, smooth, and almost lustreless. They are of a dull white, freckled and spotted with 

 different shades of purplish-brown, intermingled with a few underlying spots of bluish or inky- 

 grey, particularly towards the larger end where the markings are more thickly disposed, and 



