86 LEAVES FROM THE 



But another extraordinary habit — which, however, Mr. 

 Gould did not himself observe — is represented in one of 

 the exquisite plates which illustrate the grand work from 

 which we have been quoting. 



Mr. Gilbert, Mr. Gould's assistant, gave him the fol- 

 lowinsf information, the result of what Mr. Gilbert saw 

 at Swan River : — 



The greatest peculiarity in the habits of this bird is its manner 

 of suspending itself in perfect clusters, like a swarm of bees ; a 

 few birds suspending themselves on the under side of a dead 

 branch, while others of the flock attach themselves one to the 

 other in such numbers, that they have been observed nearly of the 

 size of a bushel measure. 



This habit of clustering shows itself in the European 

 swallow. Sir Charles Wager relates, that in the spring 

 of the year, as he came into soundings in our channel, a 

 great flock of swallows came and settled on all his rigging : 

 every rope, he says, was crowded. ' They hung on one 

 another like a swarm of bees ; the decks and carving 

 were filled with them. They seemed almost famished 

 and spent, and were only feathers and bones ; but being 

 recruited with a night's rest, took their flight in the 

 morning.' 



These weary travellers were evidently on their way 

 northward, and must have passed over France. 



Mr. Gould found the Australian wood-swallow very 

 numerous in the town of Perth, until about the middle 

 of April, and then he missed it suddenly, and did not 

 observe it again until near the end of May, when he saw 

 it in countless numbers flying in company with the com- 

 mon swallows and martins over a lake about ten miles 

 north of the town, — so numerous, indeed, that he de- 

 scribes them as darkening the water as they flew over it. 

 Its voice, he says, greatly resembles that of the common 

 swallow in character, but it is much more harsh. He 

 describes the stomach as muscular and capacious, and 

 the food as consisting of insects generally. 



