262 



ARTAMID.E. 



depth ; internal diameter two inches and a quarter, depth one inch and a half, and is generally 

 placed in a low bush. Near Louth, Mr. Edward Lord Ramsay found this species breeding at 

 the latter end of September and October 1889, the nests being placed in Emu-bushes and low 

 Iron-woods from seven to nine feet above the ground, or the tops of hollow Mulga stumps. 

 At Coonamble I found them in November, igo6, in low bushes. 



The eggs are four in number for a sitting, oval or swollen oval in form, the shell being close- 

 grained, smooth and more or less lustrous, and vary considerably in the character and colour of 

 their markings. A common type is of a fleshy-white ground colour, uniformly spotted and 

 blotched with dull reddish and umber-brown, with fainter underlying markings of a lighter 

 shade, intermingled with a few nearly obsolete spots of dull bluish-grey. A set of four, taken 

 on the i6th October, 1889, measures: — Length (A) 0-85 x 0-65 inches; (B) o-86 x 0-67 inches; 

 (C) 0-85 X 0-67 inches ; (D) o-86 x o-68 inches. Another type frequently found is of a reddish- 

 white ground colour, which is dotted, spotted and heavily blotched, but particularly towards 

 the larger end, with purplish-red, intermingled with fainter underlying markings, and clouded 

 patches of pale purplish-grey. In colour and character of markings the eggs of this type closely 

 resemble the eggs of the Helmeted Friar-bird (Tvopidorhymiius buceroides), but are, of course, 

 considerably smaller : — Length (A) o-88 x 0-67 inches; (6)0-9 ^ 07 inches; (C) 0-89 x o-68 

 inches; (D) 0-9 x o'6g inches. 



September and the three following months constitute the usual breeding season of this 

 species in New South Wales. 



Artamus albiventris. 



white-ventp:d wood swallow. 



ArlaDuis albiventris, (nee Oci/pterus albiventer. Less., Traite d' Orn., p. .irO) ; Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 

 1847, p. 31 ; id., Bds. Aust., fol. Vol. II., pi. 30 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., 

 p. 149 (186.5). 

 Artamus hypoleucus, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XIII., p. 17, (1890); id., Hand-1. Bds. Vol. 

 IV., p. 261 (1903). 



Adult male — Like the adult male 0/ Artamus melanops, but toith the uuder surface paler and 

 the under tail-coverts ivhite. Total length in the flesh 7'2 inches, wing 4'0, tail '2-9, bill 0-75, tarsus OS. 



Adult fem.\le — Similar in plumage to the male, but witli tlte vent as irell as the under tail- 

 coverts white. 



Distribution — Queensland, Northern New South Wales. 

 /T^HE White-vented Wood Swallow, inhabiting the northern portion of New South Wales 

 J_ and Queensland, I regard only as a northern form of the preceding species, Artamus 

 melanops, between which I can find a complete intergradation. Some specimens obtained in 

 Northern New South Wales have a few of the shorter central under tail-coverts blackish, and 

 which appears to be gradually lost in examples procured in different localities farther north, in 

 Queensland. 



Mr. A. F. Smith sends me the following note : — " Ai'tamiis albiventris is one of the commonest 

 species in the Herbert River District, North-eastern Queensland. It wedges its nest in at the 

 base of a Pandanus, and always on the western side of the tree, probably as a shelter from the 

 prevailing wind.'' 



Mr. Thos. P. .\ustin sends me the following notes from Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New 

 South Wales : — " Artamus hypoleucus is by far the most uncommon species of the genus Artamus 

 that visits this district, only a few pair of birds appearing in the spring of dry seasons. This, I 



