168 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Welcome Swallow, Hirundo neoxana, Gould. — Although 

 these well-known birds are so numerous in the southern and 

 eastern parts of Australia, and are somewhat migratory, still some 

 of them remain in the same localities the whole year. I have a 

 well-authenticated instance of a pair of birds, one of which was 

 marked, remaining at Heidelberg for 5 years. In Northern 

 Territory or Central Australia they are very rare, being only seen 

 once during my stay there of nearly four months. They appear 

 to give place to the White-breasted Swallow. 



White-breasted Swallow, Cheramceca leuco sternum, Gould. — 

 Whilst the Welcome Swallow prefers the eastern and southern 

 portions of the continent the White-breasted Swallow makes its 

 home in the dry, hot, and sandy portions of Central and Western 

 Australia. A few may be seen in the dry parts of Victoria and 

 New South Wales, but their home and breeding place is un- 

 doubtedly in the localities indicated. Unlike the Welcome 

 Swallow, which builds its mud nest under a bridge, verandah, or 

 overhanging rock, in which it deposits its four spotted eggs, the 

 bird under notice tunnels into the sandy bank of a creek or river, 

 or forms a receptacle for its three or four pure white eggs in the 

 crevice between rocks. Several of these tunnels, which I ex- 

 amined on theFinke River in July, 1894, penetrated to a distance 

 of over two feet, at the extremity of which a small chamber was 

 formed. As I was too early for their eggs, I am again indebted 

 to Messrs. Cowle and Field for several clutches, all of which are 

 pure white and somewhat glossy. 



Fairy Martin, Lagenoplastes ariel, Gould. — The Fairy 

 Martin is no doubt very widely dispersed over the whole of Aus- 

 tralia. Whether it leaves the continent soon after the young are 

 reared or simply migrates northward to avoid the cold and 

 moisture of our winter is somewhat doubtful, but it is certain that 

 I took a number of their eggs during an excursion of this Club 

 near Bacchus Marsh in the month of November, and that on 

 visiting the locality again a few weeks later I discovered that the 

 birds had all disappeared. In May, 1894, 1 saw large flocks of them 

 near Charlotte Waters, which is close to the southern boundary of 

 Northern Territory. In June, 1897, numbers of them were seen 

 near Cue, in Western Australia, and at the Fitzroy River, also in 

 Western Australia, but much further north, they were numerous in 

 December. 



Red-backed Kingfisher, Halcyon pyrrhopygius, Gould. — 

 There are few birds in Australia which have such a wide range as 

 the species under notice. It is solitary and silent in habit during 

 most of the year, but as mating time approaches either male or 

 female may be seen perched on the topmost branch of some 

 favourite tree, where it gives forth one single note many times 

 repeated. In course of time the vocalist is either joined by 



