INSESSORES. 115 



Sp. 57. CHERAMCECA LEUCOSTERNA, Gould. 



White-breasted Swallow. 



Hirundo leucosternus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part viii. p. 172. 

 CheramcBca leucosterna, Cab. Mus. Hein., Theil i. p. 49. 

 Buo-de-boo-de of the Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western 



Australia. 

 Black and White Swallow of the Colonists. 



Atticora leucosternon, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. ii. pi. 12. 



The White-breasted Swallow is a very wandering species, 

 never very numerous, and is generally seen in small flocks of 

 from ten to twenty in number, sometimes in company with 

 the other Swallows. It usually flies very high, a circumstance 

 which renders it difficult to procure specimens. 



In Western Australia this bird chooses for its nest the 

 deserted hole of either the Dalgyte {Perac/alea lagotis) or 

 the Boodee (a species of Bettongid), but more generally 

 drills holes in the sides of banks, like the Sand-Martin of 

 Europe. 



These holes are perfectly round, about two inches in 

 diameter, run horizontally for three feet from the entrance, 

 and then expanding into a chamber or receptacle for the nest, 

 which is constructed of the broad portions of dried grasses 

 and the dry dead leaves of trees. Mr. Johnson Drummond 

 informed Gilbert that he had frequently found seven, eight, or 

 nine eggs in a single nest, from which he inferred that more 

 than one female lays in the same nest : the eggs are white, 

 somewhat lengthened, and pointed in form. It would seem 

 that the holes are not constructed exclusively for the purpose 

 of nidification, for upon Gilbert's inserting a long grass stalk 

 into one of them, five birds made their way out, all of which 

 he succeeded in catching ; upon his digging to the extremity, 

 in the hope of procuring their eggs, no nest was found, and 

 hence he concludes that their holes are also used as places of 

 resort for the night. 



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