THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 39 



asping note is left aside for a moment or two occasionally, and 

 an endeavour to pour forth a bar more of melody for the benefit 

 of a member of the gentler sex of its kin is made. The effort is 

 great, and the result, though comparable to the song of many 

 Df the bird-fauna, falls feebly and brokenly upon the ear of one 

 'stomed to better results from such an effort. However, it is 

 ince decided on the little varied croak that early becomes 

 ordinary. 



Phis species did not appear to build as early as the former, 

 nature favoured the depositing of two eggs as a clutch in the 



ajority of cases. Of 18 nests personally observed 5 contained 

 each 3 eggs, 11 contained each 2 eggs, 2 contained each 1 egg. 

 The young were, as a whole, well advanced in the eggs, and other 

 nests with plumaged young had two in each. 



As is the manner with many other birds so is it so with these, 

 that of flying angrily and boldly at you as you observe the 

 perfect quiet of the young in the nest. The mother bird is more 

 retiring in her fear, and the persistent darting flights almost direct 

 to the intruder devolve upon the male. The interest in watching 

 the movements is about as keen as is in many other families. 



On Christmas Eve I observed that two young were about to 

 fly from a nest built in an odd-looking piece of dead timber near 

 the ground, which I had watched for eight days past. One would 

 serve as a cabinet representative specimen, so I withdrew it at 7 

 p.m. For an hour and a quarter I kept fifty yards away watching 

 other birds, and returning then I found the parents had removed 

 the remaining young swallow, probably for preservation sake. 



Meanwhile I had extracted three fresh eggs (the third one laid 

 the day previously) from another nest of this species, and placed 

 therein the young bird mentioned ; the layer of the eggs, returning 

 at once, looked astonished, but immediately and carefully 

 gathered the young bird under its plumage. Continuing this 

 mild experiment, the young feathered bird was now extracted 

 after being there for fifteen minutes, and a member of the white- 

 eyebrowed species, born two days previously, was placed in the 

 nest, and the proprietor female bird returning a second time 

 again gently covered the creature, this time almost a featherless 

 one, as if it belonged to it, and the loss of three eggs was purely a 

 philosophical matter. This young bird was taken through its 

 cradled course of life by the ninth day later, and released on the 

 same day as were the two in the nest from which it was removed. 

 The young of the previous species at 24 hours of age are downy 

 and well stored with vitality. The last movement of one made 

 in methylated spirit was the dropping of the neck and head upon 

 its chest after 20^ minutes had elapsed from its placement in 

 bottle. 



The majority of nests were loosely constructed, but where 



