WOOD- SWALLOWS. 



55 



scented flowers, 'but I do not know whether in search 

 of honey or not. The brush tongue would seem to 

 indicate that honey was in the wild state a food some- 

 times used, though perhaps, as in the case of some 

 honey-eating Parrots, not necessary always to subsist- 

 ence." 



Five examples of this species reached our Zoological 

 Gardens in 1866 ; a pair was bred in the Gardens in 

 1870, and one was added in 1875. In 1897 Miss Hagen- 

 beck imported specimens, of which three went to the 

 Berlin Gardens, and in 1899 and subsequent years speci- 

 mens were regularly exhibited at our London shows 

 and elsewhere. 



MASKED WOOD-SWALLOW (Artamus personatus). 



Upper surface deep grey, including the wings and 

 tail ; the latter tipped with white ; head above eooty- 

 black ; face, ear-coverts and throat jet-black, edged 

 below by a narrow white line ; under surface delicate 

 grey ; thighs darker ; bill blue at base, black at tip ; 

 i'eet hoary bluish-grey ; irides blackish-brown. The 

 female is rather duller than the male, with paler bill 

 and dark grey mask. Hab., South Queensland, New 

 South Wales, Victoria, South, West, and North-west 

 Australia. 



According to Gilbert, this species is shy and retired, 

 never being seen but in the most secluded parts of the 

 bush. " Its nest is placed in the upright fork of a 

 dead tree, or in the hollow part of the stump of a grass- 

 tree ; it is neither so well nor so neatly formed ae those 

 of the other species of the group, being a frail structure 

 externally composed of a very few extremely small 

 twigs, above which is a layer of fine dried grasses. The 

 eggs also differ as remarkably as the nest, their ground- 

 colour being light greenish grey, dashed and speckled 

 with hair -brown principally at the larger end, and ( 

 slightly spotted with 'grey, appearing as if beneath the 

 surface of the shell ; they are ten and a half lines long '' 

 by eight and a half lines broad. I found two nests in 

 a York gum forest, about five miles to the east of the 

 Avon River ; each of these contained two eggs, which 

 I believe is the usual number. Mr. Angas informs me 

 that in South Australia this bird makes no nest, but 

 places the eggs on a few bent stalks of grass in the 

 bend of a small branch." (Of. Gould, " Birds of Aus- 

 tralia," Vol. I., p. 151.) 



Somewhat opposed to the above is the account given 

 in A. J. Campbell's " Nests and Eggs of Australian 

 Birds," pp. 466-8 : "Nest. In general similar to that 

 of A. superciliosus ; composed of dead branching twigs 

 as a foundation, then green portions of shrubs, finally 

 a goodly lining of fine rootlets, dry grass,, and chiefly 

 a green wiry grass, and situated in a 'bush or low 

 branch of a tree from 1 feet to 8 or 10 feet above the 

 ground. Dimensions over all, 4 inches by 3 inches 

 in depth ; egg-cavity, 2 inches across by 1^ inches 

 deep." A beautiful photograph of the nest containing 

 three eggs faces this description. 



"Eggs. Clutch, two to three; stout oval in 

 shape or sharply pointed at one end ; texture 

 of shell fine ; surface glossy ; colour, light greenish- 

 grey, mottled and clouded, chiefly around the 

 upper quarter, with umber and dull grey ; resembling 

 exactly those of the A. superciliosus. Dimensions in 

 inches of a clutch: (1) .88 x -66, (2) .88 x -66, (3) 

 .8 x .67. 



" Observations. This handsome Wood-Swallow and 

 the A. superciliosus axe probably more nearly related 

 than any other two of the Artami. The fact already 

 recorded by me of the female A. personatus being mated 

 to a male A. superciliosus would tend to prove that 

 assertion ; besides, oologically speaking, the eggs are 

 inseparable as far as outward appearances go. The 



voices of the two species are very much alike, but the 

 'whamp'-like alarm note of A. personatus is somewhat 

 coanser and deeper. 



" I stated in a previous part of my observations on 

 this Wood-Swallow that odd pairs accompanied the 

 White-browed birds on their visits southwards. But 

 the year 1895 was a most remarkable exception, when 

 flocks of the Masked species appeared independently 

 in Victoria. The early flocks arrive in the first "week 

 in November, or a month after the first of the White- 

 browed birds. My son reported he had seen flocks in 

 the vicinity of Springvale, near the Gippsland railway 

 line. To verify his statement Mr. Gillespie and I 



DUSKY WOOD-SWALLOWS. 



repaired thither on the afternoon of the 30th November. 

 We had no sooner left the station than a flock of mostly 

 Masked Wood- Swallows rose from some low scrub, 

 where we took two or three nests." 



In an article on Wood-Swallows in The Avicultural 

 Magazine for May, 1900, p. 156, Mr. Henry J. 

 Fulljames mentions the importation of two pairs of 

 this species, by Mr. Geo. Carrick presumably, of which 

 he secured one pair and the other went to the London 

 Gardens. In October of the same year Mr. Glasscoe 

 exhibited a specimen at the Crystal Palace, the same 

 bird being again exhibited in January and November, 

 1901, and February, 1902. 



DTTSKY WOOD-SWALLOW (Artamus sordidus). 



"Head, neck, and the whole of the body fuliginous 

 grey ; wings dark bluish black, the external edges of the 

 second, third, and fourth primaries white ; tail bluish 

 black, all the feathers, except the two middle ones, 

 largely tipped with white ; irides dark brown ; bill 

 blue, with a black tip ; feet mealy lead-colour. 



