Notes on the White-browecl Wood Swallow.



79



was the first example laid in the Zoo (June 9th, 1859), yet the egg

of 1859 weighed 14 \ oz. It is thus probable that the advanced age of

the bird accounts for the lightness of the present specimen.


(4) Structurally the egg is very thin-shelled; it is glossy like

porcelain, and smooth to the touch, though minute examination

shows the surface to he dotted all over with tiny pits. At the

large end there are several raised hair-like lines, and a few minute

raised tubercles, such as also ccur in Apteryx oweni.


(5) A faint pink colour is noticeable, especially on holding

the egg up to the light and viewing the interior through the blow¬

hole. This pink hue is apparently only found in clear eggs, never in

incubated ones ; but European aviculturists seem unlikely to be able

to confirm this theory, as no fertile eggs seem to have been laid in

this country, whether at the Zoo or elsewhere. The pink hue is

very delicate, difficult to recognise by artificial light, and possibly

fugitive at best; nevertheless, it does certainly occur, and the eggs

of Mantell’s Apteryx are by no means of the dull-white, green-grey,

or pale yellowish hue stated in text-books.



NOTES ON THE WHITE-BROWED WOOD

SWALLOW (Artamus super ciliosus ).


By R. T. Littlejohns and S. A. Lawrence.


To many aviculturists in the Mother Country the subject of

this paper will be familiar. The White-browed Wood Swallow has

been introduced into English aviaries apparently with a good measure

of success. " The writers, as photographers and observers, have had

a fair experience of the bird in the wild state, and the following notes

on its habits have been gathered during wanderings within a few

miles of Melbourne.


The White-browed is one of three species of Wood Swallow

which nest annually in this south-eastern extremity of the continent.

One of the other two species remains in the locality all the year

round, but the White-browed and the third species are summer


* [We saw a species of Wood Swallow in the Cologne Zoological Gardens in

1909.—G. R.]



