247 



Mr Thos P Austin sends me the following notes from Cobborah Station, Cobborah, New 

 South \\s.\es---FeUochelidon and, Hke P. nigricans, arrives in very large numbers durmg the 

 spring. They soon set to work upon nest-building m any convenient place, such as wUh.n a 

 partly burnt out large tree, beneath large logs, under bridges, but more often under over-hangmg 

 banks of rivers and creeks, where their nests are to be seen in large clusters Amongst the 

 smaller birds of Australia, I know of none the eggs of which vary so much m both shape and 

 colour; the clutch usually consists of three or four, and frequently no two eggs m the same 

 clutch will be alike; they vary from pure white and almost round, to heavily freckled and 

 blotched long-shaped oval. At times the complete clutch of four eggs wUl be pure white, 

 without a freckle at all." 



The ec^gs are usually four or five in number, oval or elongate m form, although sUghtly 

 pyriform specimens are sometimes found, the shell being close-grained, smooth and shght ly 

 lustrous They are dull white, some specimens being entirely devoid of markmgs, but as a rule 

 they are finely freckled, with yellowish or very faint reddish-brown, particularly on the larger 

 end! where in some specimens they form irregular zones. Others have the markmgs uniform y 

 distributed over the shell. A set of five measures -.-Length (A) 073 x 0-4^ mches; (B) o 7/ 

 X 0-5 inches; (0076 x o-48 inches; (D) 073 - 0-48 inches; (E) 077 >< 0-51 mches. A se 

 of four measures -.-Length (A) 0-68 x 0-47 inches; (B) 0-67 x 0-5 inches; (C) o-6« x 05 

 inches; (D) 0-7 x 0-49 inches. 



Fled-elings resemble the adult, but are duller in colour ; the feathers on the back are dark 

 brown with a slight metallic lustre, and the scapulars and secondaries are margined around the 

 tips with rufous. Wing 2-6 inches. 



Near Sydney nidification usually commences in August, and generally occupies about 

 fifteen to twenty days. Owing to the narrow entrances to the nests it is impossible to tell when 

 theeg-^sare deposited, or how long the period of incubation lasts, but I have observed the 

 youna ones leave the nest about a month after the old birds commenced to sit. Two broods are 

 reared during the breeding season, which usually continues until the end of February. At 

 Ashfield.on the25th March, 1S95. I caught a rtedgeling which had just left the nest; this, 

 however, was exceptionally late. 



Family ARTAMID^. 



Oenn-s .^KT-A-l^^TJS, Vieiiiot. 



Artamus tenebrosus. 



DUSKY WOOD SWALLOW. 

 Tardus tenebrosus, Lath,, Ind., Orn., Suppl., p. xlii. (1801). 

 Tiirdtis sordidus, Lath., Ind., Orn., Suppl., p xliii. (1801). 



AHa,nus sord^dus, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol, Vol. 11., pi. 27 (1848) ; id., Handbk. Bds. A-^-' ^ol- I. 



p. 143 (1865) ; Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mas., Vol. XIII., p. 19 (1890) ; ^d., Hand-hst Bds., 



Vol. IV., p. ■26-2 (1903). 



ADULT ,,M.K-General colour aboce and belo,r smoky vinous-yrey, passin,, into a chocolate-brown 



on the lower back, rump, lorver abdomen and flanks ; the upper tail-coverts darker , ,uMs .^2/-^ ac^, 



,;.. second, third and fourth primaries e^cternally margined with white ; two central taxi-feathers black, 



ike rnnainder black broadly tipped with white, e.cept the outermost feather on eUher sxde, wh.ch has 



