CUEKAMCECA. 



239 



Australia. It is reinaii<able that in Eastern Australia it is strictly an inland species, while in 

 South and Western Australia it also occurs on the coast. I met with it at Narrabri in November 

 1896, nesting in the soil in the upper portion of a quarry near Little Mountain, but did not meet 

 with a single specimen eighty miles further to the north at Moree. I saw two pairs at Henley 

 Beach, near Adelaide, in December igoo, and several days later in the same locality, Dr. A. M. 

 Morgan showed me old nesting burrows in the road side. 



The food of this species consists of insects, captured chiefly during flight, and while so 

 en<^a<^ed it performs many graceful evolutions, its strikingly contrasted black and white plumage 

 renderin" it a most conspicuous object, and enabling one to easily distinguish it from any other 

 species of Australian Swallow. 



There is a variation in the colour of the centre of the crown of the head of adult specimens. 

 Most have this part uniform brown or with paler margins to the feathers, others have it white 

 with very small dark brown centres to the feathers. 



From Broken Hill, Dr. W. Macgillivray writes me: — " I have noted Chcramceca kitcosternum 

 throughout the year, either in pairs or small companies. They nest from the latter part of 

 .-\uo-ust until November, the situation chosen is either the vertical bank of a creek or a side of a 

 washaway, sometimes nesting singly, at other times in company. I do not think they nest in 

 company from choice, is is simply because a certain spot happens to be a favorable one for their 

 burrowing operations. The burrow is a long one, usually two or three feet, and at the end an 

 oval chamber in which is placed the nest constructed of small leaves of Eucalyptus or Mulga, 

 the nest is usually about four inches in diameter, and is compact, the layer of leaves below the 

 eggs being often nearly one inch in thickness. The set consists almost invariably of five eggs." 



From Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, Mr. Thos. P. Austin sends me the 

 following notes:—" Cheramaca Iciicoitcrnum appears to be a stationary species here, as a few pairs 

 are to be seen flying about at all times of the year, but just before breeding commences they 

 keep in small flocks of from four to ten in number, and are very often in company with Petrochelidon 

 arid. Gould states that they usually fly very high, such is not the case in this district, as they 

 are seldom to be seen flying more than about a hundred feet from the ground. In certain lights 

 they appear to be most extraordinary shaped birds, their white head and chest is quite invisible, 

 and they just look like a pair of wings and a tail flying about. Sometimes they breed in small 

 communities, boring a small tunnel from two to three feet in length in banks of creeks and rivers 

 where ever the soil is soft enough, many of the tunnels are deserted when only bored a few inches 

 through the soil being too hard. Even in the sandy soil they take a very long time to complete 

 their nest, usually commencing the tunnel about the middle of September, but the eggs are some- 

 times not laid till November. The nest consists of about two hand's full of dry leaves and grass, 

 which are placed in a round chamber at the end of the tunnel, where they lay from three to six pure 

 white eggs. Excepting in the breeding season I have never seen this species perched on a tree, 

 and even then only upon dead trees, and that very seldom." 



Dr. A. M. Morgan has kindly forwarded me the following interesting notes: — "Cheramaca 

 leucosternum I have met with in every part of South Australia, and found them breeding from 

 Henley Beach, seven miles west of Adelaide, to Arcoona one hundred and twenty miles north- 

 west of Port Augusta. They are not common in the south but breed regularly in the sandhills 

 at Henley Beach, also in the golf links at Glenelg. At Laura they breed every year in the banks 

 of the Rocky River. At Port Augusta and north of there they are the commonest Swallow, and 

 every sand bank is riddled with their nesting holes. The nests I have found in the southern 

 part of the State were formed of dried grasses, but at Port Augusta and north of there they are 

 made of narrow mulga leaves. The nests are very clumsily constructed and will not bear 

 removal, and as many as six eggs are sometimes laid. The old holes are much used hy Xcrophila 



