THE HONEY-BIBD. 141 



which, can be heard nowhere but in an Australian 

 forest. 



The Wood Swallow was another summer migrant to 

 us ; and of this bird we had two, if not three, distinct 

 species common in peculiar localities. Both varieties 

 used to associate, were gregarious in breeding, generally 

 frequented the small open honeysuckle and shey-oak 

 scrub on the edges of the swamps and plains, and I never 

 met with them in the deep forests. The wood swallow 

 is nearly as large as the British starling. The general 

 colour of the common variety is dun-blue, light under- 

 neath, with a white eyebrow ; the tail is fan-shaped, the 

 middle feathers pointed, longer than the others, which 

 is very apparent when the bird is on the wing. We used 

 sometimes to kill this bird without the white eyebrow, 

 and I fancied there were two species. The other variety 

 was finer-shaped, and the breast and belly were brick- 

 dust red. They were constantly on the wing, hovering 

 over and dipping down on to the old honeysuckles where 

 they bred. The nest and eggs resembled those of the 

 European shrike. In autumn they congregated like the 

 starlings at home, in great flocks on the low meadow- 

 land, previous to leaving. The note was a twittering 

 kind of call. I consider the wood swallow is very appro- 

 priately named. 



One of the commonest of the small bush-birds through- 

 out the year was the Honey-bird, or Honey-eater, and 

 was met with all over the bush, among the honeysuckle- 

 trees and flowering scrub. "We had two species: the 



