ARTAMUS. 257 



instance, for as a rule Cuckoo's deposit their eggs in the nest of those species laying similar or 

 smaller-sized eggs than their own, and seldom is the full complement of eggs found in a nest in 

 which a Cuckoo's egg is deposited. 



The White-eyebrowed Wood Swallow commences to build according to the time of its 

 arrival ; in the neighbourhood of Sydney it is usually at the latter end of October or early in 

 November, nests with eggs being more often found during the latter month. At Narrabri, 

 Moree and other northern parts of the State, I have found it building at the same time of the 

 year as it does close to the metropolis. Over five hundred miles farther south, near Melbourne, 

 I found it building freely in November, 1895. January may be regarded as the end of the 

 breeding season, for as a rule, near Sydney, the birds depart with their young during the latter 

 end of that month or early in February. 



At a meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, held on the 28th October, 1908, 

 I exhibited a hybrid adult male of Avtamus siiperciliosus x A. pci'sonaius, oh\.a\r\e6i by Mr. H. 

 Greensill Barnard, of Bimbi, Duaringa, Queensland, on the 9th September, 1908. It resembles 

 Artamus supevciliosus on the upper parts, has the foreneck, lores, cheeks, ear-coverts and throat 

 black, passing into blackish-grey ; remainder of the under surface ashy-grey with a slight vinous 

 wash ; under tail-coverts pale ashy-grey ; over and behind the eye a distinct white superciliary 

 stripe, but not extending so far on to the sides of the crown of the head as in A. supevciliosus. 

 Total length 7 inches ; wing 4-85 inches. Mr. Barnard came across a flock of A. superciliosus 

 nesting about five miles away from his home, and among them was this hybrid, which was 

 mated to a female of A. superciliosus, engaged in building a nest. 



Artamus personatus. 



MASKED WOOD SWALLOW. 

 Ocypferus personatus, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1840, p. 149. 



Artamus personatiis, GouM, Bds. Austr., fol, Vol. II., pi. 31 (1848); id., Handhk. Bds. Austr., 

 Vol. [., p. 150 ; Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XIII., p. 16 (1890); id., Handl. Bds., 

 Vol. IV., p. 261 (1903). 



Adult male — General colour above dark grey, becoming paler on the rump and upper tail- 

 coverts ; quills dark grey, narrowly edged tvith pale buffy-white around the ends, the primaries 

 having a blackish ivash towards the tips ; tail feathers grey tvith an irregular band of white at the 

 tip ; forehead blackish ; lores and sides of face black; ear-coverts and throat black, bounded by an 

 indistinct whitish collar ; remainder of the under surface delicate grey and passing into almost pure 

 white on the under tail-coverts ; bill bluish-grey, black at the tip : legs and feet dark mealy-grey : iris 

 black. Total length in the flesh 8 inches, wing 5, tail 3-1, bill 0'75, tarsus 0-75. 



Adult female — Resembles the male, but is browner above and beloiv ; lores black, the tliront. 

 cheeks, and ear-coverts blackish-grey, and an indistinct collar on the lower throat ashy-grey. 



Distribution — Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria, South Australia, Western .Vustralia, 

 North-western Australia. 



/"I^HE Masked Wood Swallow is widely distributed over the greater portion of the Australian 

 _1_ Continent, and has been recorded by many writers, except from the extreme northern 

 parts of the Northern Territory of South Australia. It is a regular visitant to the inland portions 

 of New South Wales, arriving about the end of September, frequently in company with Artamus 

 superciliosus, and the nests of both species may be often found. close together. In November, 

 1896, at Narrabri and at Moree in the same month of the following year, I found large numbers 

 of the Masked and White-eyebrowed Wood Swallows nesting in almost every conceivable 



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