SWALLOW TRIBE. 



SWALLOW TRIBE. 



nr 



j themselves on the under aide of a dead branch, while others 

 of the flock attach themselves one to the other, in such number* that 

 they haye been obaerred nearly of the size of a bushel measure.' It 

 was very numerous in the town of Perth until about the middle of 

 April, when I mined it suddenly ; nor did I observe it again until 

 near the end of May, when I aaw it in countless numbers flying in 

 company with the common swallows and martens over a lake about 

 tan miles north of the towu ; so numerous in fact were they that they 

 darkened the water aa they flew ovor it." 



Sordid Thnuh (Artamta torJidtu). (Gould.) 



Mr. Gould gives a representation on the plate which accompanies 

 his description of this extraordinary clustering habit The birds in 

 the representation at once remind one of a swarm of bees. 



: .. . 



MM. (Giuld.) 



A. cinernu, the largest of the Australian Wood-Swallows, is the 

 Ocyptrrtu cinerau of Valenciennes ; and also the Be-wo-wen of the 

 aborigines of the lowland and mountain districts of Western Australia, 

 and the Wood-Swallows of the colonists of the same. 



The crown of the head, neck, throat, and chest is gray, passing into 

 sooty gray on the abdomen ; space between the bill and the eye, 

 fore port of the cheek, chin, upper and under tail-coverts, jet black ; 

 two middle tail-feathers black ; the remainder black largely tipped 

 with white, with the exception of the outer feather on each aide, in 

 which the black extends on the outer web nearly to the tip ; wings 

 deep gray, primaries bluish-gray ; under surface of the shoulder white, 

 passing into gray on the under side of the primaries; irides dark 

 blackish-brown ; bill light grayish-blue at the base, black at the tip ; 

 legs and feet greenish-gray. Sexes alike in colour, and only to be 

 distinguished by dissection. (Qould.) 



It is found in Timor and Australia. The range in the last-named 

 country extensive. Found by Mr. Robert Brown at Broad Sound in 

 the east, and by Mr. Gilbert on the west coast 



Wood-Swallow (Arlamiu einernu). (Gould.) 



Mr. Gould states that in Western Australia, although a very local, 

 it is by no means an uncommon species, particularly at Swan River, 

 where it inhabits the limestone hills near the coast, and the Clear 

 Hills of the interior, assembling in small families, and feeding upon 

 the seeds of the Xanthnrhara, so that insects do not form the sole diet 

 if this species. Mr. Qould indeed observes that with such avidity 

 does it devour the ripe seeds of this grass-tree, that several may be 

 seen crowded together on the perpendicular seed-xtalks of tho plant 

 busily engaged in extracting them ; but he adds that at other times, 

 l>articulrly among the limestone hills, where the trees are few, it 

 lescends to the broken rocky ground in search of insects and their 

 larva;. 



The round nest Is compactly formed in October and November, 

 sometimes of fibrous roots lined with fine hair-like grasses, sometimes 

 with grass-stems and small plants, and placed either in a scrubby bush 

 or among the leaves of Xanthorhaa. Mr. Gould remarks that it is 

 deeper and more cup-shaped than those of the other members of this 

 group The eggs vary much in colour and the character of their 



