FKTIKirinol.lDON'. 



245 



was virgin forest, is now thickly covered with houses, which >nay have been the means of 

 extending the range of this species nearer to the coast. At the present tmie they are seldom 

 seen in the city, although they are common enough in the breeding season at Ashf^eld, a few 

 miles awav. In Victoria the Fairy Martin is a regular visitant, and numbers used to breed 

 every year at the University of Melbourne. During the journey of the Calvert Explormg 

 Expedition in Western Australia, Mr. G. A. Keartland noted numbers of these birds at Cue and 

 the Fitzroy River, and was informed that their nests are frequently seen among the rocks ot the 

 St George Range. In August, 1900, Dr. A. M. Morgan observed large numbers of these birds 

 at Euro Rock-hole, forty n.iles north-west of Port Augusta, South Australia. In the chffs at 

 the side of this hole were many of previous years nests. 



The following dates, taken from my note-book, give the times of the arrival and nidification 

 of the Fairy Martin in Ashfleld and Enfield, New South Wales, during several years :^ 



1891-ist July saw one pair; 15th August very common, busy repairmg old nests and 

 constructing new ones; 4th September the birds were finished lining the new nests, and 

 to all outward appearances they are now completed; 14th December, b.rds coUectmg 

 mud and constructing new nests underneath those finished in September. 

 i,S92-+th August noted arrival ; 14th August, building their nests under the eaves of a new 

 cottage; 2nd September, lining their nests; 4th November, young birds plentiful; ist 

 December, building again under the eaves of a new cottage. 

 i893-26th February, Fairy Martin common ; 3rd June, very common in Ashfield ; 27th July, 

 still in flocks ; i8th August, building under the eaves of houses ; loth November, young 

 birds plentiful. 

 i894^24th February, nth March, 22nd April, common about Ashfield; 8th July, in flocks 

 about Ashfield, not observed since last April; 26th August, buildmg under the eaves of 

 houses; gth September, building ; 22nd November, feeding their young. 

 i895-i6th February, still plentiful ; 23rd June, spring-like weather, saw one pair; 14th July, 

 flocks of Fairy Martins about; 15th August, building. 

 The nest of this species is a retort-shaped structure, outwardly formed of pellets of mud and 

 lined inside w,th dried grasses and feathers. Usually they are built close together, sometimes 

 evenly in rows, but frequently in clusters, the entrances of many alone bemg visible. When 

 resortin- to hollow tree trunks I have known of several instances of the entrances being entirely 

 closed up by fresh builders. On the rocky banks of the Upper Clarence River I found their 

 nests built regularly in single rows of ten or a dozen, with an odd nest of the Welcome Swallow 

 (Hirundo neoxcna) here and there in a crevice, on which the bird was sitting. In November 

 1897 I observed hundreds of the nests of the Fairy Martin attached to the hard and sun-dned 

 bank's of the Gwydir and Mehi Rivers. About the western suburbs of Sydney, these birds nest 

 re-ularly every season under the eaves of houses. Woolsheds, stables and underneath culverts 

 an'd bridges are also favourite nesting sites. The upper portion of the stone piers of the old railway 

 bridge which crosses the Nepean River at Penrith, was a compact mass covered with the nests 

 of this' species ; they are exceedingly common, too, under the river banks about Norton's Basin. 

 The nests vary exceedingly in size, according to the position in which they are built, but the 

 bottle-neck-like entrance almost invariably points in a horizontal position, or downwards, 

 althou-h it may be turnrd to one side. An average straight-necked nest measures, externally 

 over aU ten inches in length by six inches in breadth and four inches in depth. W here nests 

 have be'en built favorable for observation, principally isolated ones under the eaves of a house 

 selected as a fresh nesting site, I have always noted that each nest was constructed by a single 

 pair of birds. This I have verified by observations extending over a period of many years. If 

 undisturbed, some of the old nests are used the following season, but new ones are added every 

 year It is remarkable the persistency with which they keep on building when once they have 



