144 NATUBAL HISTOEY SKETCHES. 



the tea-tree, all the while uttering their loud, monotonous 

 call-note. They breed in the tea-tree scrub, in company ; 

 the nest shallow, the eggs three, reddish white. 



We had two species of Swift, which visited us at 

 irregular periods during the summer ; the one the large 

 spine-tailed swift, and the other a smaller variety, which 

 rather resembles the swift at home. 



About Christmas, especially on a clear hot morning, 

 a large flock of the spine-tailed swift would pay us a 

 visit, stop for a day or two, disappear, and we, perhaps, 

 should not see them again for ten days. Always in motion, 

 hawking high in the air, screaming in wild joy, or dash- 

 ing by us on the plains with the speed of an arrow, this 

 is certainly one of the swiftest-flying birds in the world ; 

 about the size of a starling in the body, but in the shape 

 of a pear ; the wings very long and pointed, and the tail- 

 feathers have each a sharp spine or prickle protruding 

 from the end : the body-colour is sooty-black, the back 

 and rump brocoli-brown, white towards the tail. The 

 other species is much smaller, more resembling its British 

 namesake; but the tail is square (without spikes), and 

 the rump is white. The two species did not appear to 

 associate much, and generally came to us in flocks by 

 themselves on different days. "We rarely saw either 

 before the middle of December or after the end of March. 

 I have heard that the spine-tailed swift breeds on the 

 Heads and on some of the islands in Western-port Bay. 



No two birds in Australia remind the emigrant of his 

 village home in the old country so much as the Swallow 



