244 HIHUNDINID.E. 



buff, some specimens of the latter hue being uniformly covered with numerous fleecy markings 

 of a slightly darker shade of the ground colour. Others have well defined zones of dull purplish- 

 red or reddish-brown around the larger end, while some are almost pure white with nearly 

 invisible markings of pale purplish -red. .\ set of four measures : — Length (A) 0-73 x 0-53 inches ; 

 (B) 074 X 0-55 inches; (C) 0-74 x 0-53 inches; (D) o-6S x 0-54 inches. 



There is an albino of this species in the Australian Museum. 



Probably two broods are reared during the season, which commences at the latter end of 

 August and continues until February. j 



Petrochelidon ariel. 



FAIRY MARTIN. 

 Collocalia ariel, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1842, p. 132 ; id., Bds. Au.str., fol.. Vol. II., pi. 15 (1848). 

 Lagenoplastes ariel, Gould, Handbk. Bds Austr., Vol. I., p. 11-3 (1865). 

 Petrochelidon arief, Sliarpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. X., p. 199 (1885). 



Adult male — Fonltmd and i-rnnni nf the hend and nape rufous: scapulars and hack dark 

 i<teel-hlu,i;, iJiii feathers if the latter having white bases : rump creamy-white : upper tail-coverts hrown ; 

 wings and tail dusky-brown ; lores dull whitish bordered above by a broad hhn-kisli stnid.- : elmi (uid 

 throat whitish; for-eneck and sides of the body pale sandy-broimi, the feathers mi the thruiil and fore- 

 neck having indistinct darker shaft-streaks ; remainder of the under surface and nnihr fnil-coverts 

 white: bill black : legs and feet grey ; iris blaekish-bronm. Total length in the fiesh f75 inches, 

 wings 3-65, central tail feathers 1-6, outer tall feathers 1-9, bill 0-2 i, tarsus (rJ^. 



Adult fem.\le — Similar in plumage to the male. 



DistribiUion — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South .\ustralia. Central .Vustralia, 

 Western .\ustralia. North-western .Australia, Tasmania. 



fN their excellent " Monograph of the Hirundinida-," Dr. R. B. Sharpe and Mr. Claude W^ 

 Wyatt, who refer vernacularly to the present species as the Fairy Cliff Swallow, remark: — 

 " In the year 1865 the late Mr. Gould instituted the genus Lagenoplastes for the Cliff Swallow of 

 .\ustralia, but on comparing the latter species with the Cliff Swallow of America, which belongs 

 to the genus Petrochelidon, we were unable to percei\e any generic difference, and we have 

 therefore united them." 



The Fairy Cliff Swallow, or Fairy Martin as it is more popularly called, is freely distributed 

 in the spring and summer months over the eastern, southern and western portions of the 

 Australian Continent ; it is also found in Tasmania. In the neighbourhood of Ashheld, live 

 miles west of Sydney, it usually arrives early in .Vugust and departs again about the end of 

 .\pril. It is not, however, a strictly migratory species, for in very mild winters it remains 

 throughout the year. In the protracted winter of 1892 it did not make its appearance until the 

 2nd September. In the following year it remained until the 3rd June, and was only absent for 

 a few weeks, reappearing again in large flocks on the 27th July. It is remarkable that during 

 the hot months of February and March, these birds are usually absent from the neighbourhood 

 of Sydney, but return again on wet days. Probably it is due to insect life being more abundant 

 in moist and hot weather, for this species is strictly insectivorous, and captures its prey while 

 on the wing. The late Mr. Gould remarks that the Fairy Martin appears to have an antipathy 

 to the country near the sea, and that he had never observed it at Sydney, or even heard of its 

 approaching the coast line nearer than twenty miles. Since, however, the time of Gould's visit 

 to Sydney, in 1832, its immediate neighbourhood has undergone a vast change. What then 



