THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 49 



It is to the well-known form of our continent that the following 

 notes refer, and I am pleased to again acknowledge the careful 

 observations of my correspondent, Mr. Geo. Graham, of Heytes- 

 bury Forest. 



While comparing the experiments of Mr. Wm. Evans, F.R.S.E. 

 (Ibis, 1 89 1, p. 60), made in the incubation of eggs of Hirundo 

 rustica with those made in H. neoxena in this paper, it is to be 

 noted they show the same results, although Mr. Evans in the 

 first place took each egg from the nest when laid, replacing the 

 four eggs on the fifth day, when the fifth egg was laid, and when 

 the bird had fairly started to incubate, and in the second place 

 removed the eggs to an incubator two days before two of them 

 [only two fertile (?) ] hatched. Two nests watched showed 

 fifteen days as the time of incubation from laying of last egg. 

 The eggs in our nests took fifteen days, and they were neither 

 removed in the initial nor concluding stages, while all hatched 

 out. The observations " twelve days if fine, seventeen days if 

 cold or wet," as noted in Cassell's " Birds," ii., p. 107, are not 

 borne out by the experiments made in either Northern or 

 Southern Hemisphere. It is interesting to know that the House- 

 Swallow in England hatches its eggs in exactly the same time as 

 the one in Victoria. 



The following four observations show — (a) an egg is laid on each 

 consecutive day, (b) the clutch takes fifteen days to incubate, (c) 

 they only open their eyes on the ninth day, (d) the young left the 

 nests in Observation I. in twenty-four days, in Observation IV. 

 in thirty days. 



Observation I. — August-September, 1899, Heytesbury, Vic. 



The birds commenced additions to last year's nest in a much- 

 weathered hollow at base of eucalyptus trunk on 6th August, and 

 by the 13th inst. a new tier of plaster, one inch deep, was laid. 

 Immediately following this an inner lining of rabbit's fur, feathers, 

 &c, was fixed in ample time for the first egg, which was deposited 

 in the nest on 23rd August, the second on the 24th, the third on 

 the 25th, the fourth on the 26th, and the fifth on the 27th. 



The bird immediately " sat," and brought out five young on the 

 nth September. On the 4th of October the young left the nest 

 for the first time. 



Observation II — September, 1899, Heytesbury, Vic. 



As an experiment, the old nest was broken away and taken 

 quite out of sight of the birds. This gave an opportunity to find 

 the time required to build a complete nest. The operation com- 

 menced on 7th September, and by the 19th inst. the earthen cup 

 was finished. By the 30th inst. the lining was fixed and an egg 

 was laid. Without giving any clear explanation the owners made 



