178 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA: 



lined with feathers, grasses, etc., and resembles, as 

 Mr. Campbell says, a bisected bowl, cemented to the 

 side of a wall of rock, cave or cliff, under verandah, on 

 posts, etc. Many curious nesting places have been 

 recorded; and it may not be out of place to quote 

 Dr. Ramsay, who says: " In 1858, while fishing off a 

 small steamer, which, having been out of use for some 

 months, was moored a hundred yards from the North 

 Shore of Sydney Harbour, I observed a pair of these 

 swallows fly round the boat, and frequently dive 

 underneath the paddle-box. After a long search I 

 discovered their nest, which was composed of thick 

 pitchy mud, lined with seaweed and feathers. It was 

 placed upon one of the horizontal beams of the paddle- 

 box, and contained three young ones about half-fledged. 

 The man in charge informed me that the nest had been 

 made when the steamer was lying lower down the 

 Harbour, and, upon its being tugged to where it then 

 lay, the birds flew round and round it the whole time, 

 evidently in a state of great excitement." 



The eggs of the Welcome Swallow are oval in shape ; 

 color, whitish, speckled all over with numerous reddish- 

 brown markings, often forming a distinct zone on the 

 larger end. Three to five usually constitute a clutch. 

 Breeding months are from September to December. 

 Mr. G. Graham states that the operation of building 

 the nest was commenced on the 7th of September, and 

 by the 19th inst. the earthen cup was finished; by the 

 30th inst. the lining was fixed, and an egg was laid. 



