872 Transactions.—Zoology. 
appearance of the Treo Swallow, except that I saw what I believe to 
be the same bird about half a mile from where I saw it before, a month 
after its first appearance. Although I have kept a good look out for 
it since, I have not again seen it. If I mistake not, I have often seen the 
Treo Swallow on the Wimmera, in Australia. Its nesting place was in 
hollow logs; sociable in nidification ; a dozen or morc nests of clay, bottle 
shaped, and built touching one another.’’ My correspondent’s remarks on 
the nesting habits refer evidently to the Australian martin, which builds 
bottle-shaped nests of the kind he describes; sometimes in the cavities of 
decayed trees, often in clusters attached to the perpendicular banks of 
rivers, the sides of rocks, or other prominences, and gencrally in the 
vicinity of water. Tho Tree Swallow, on the contrary, as Mr. Gould 
informs us, breeds in the holes of trees, forming no nest but depositing its 
eggs, from three to five in number, on the soft dust, or pulverised wood, 
generally found in such places. 
The species has a rather wide range, being migratory over the southern 
portion of Australia and Tasmania, arriving in August and retiring north- 
wards on the approach of autumn, Mr. A. R. Wallace brought specimens 
from the Aru Islands; and other localities have been recorded. 
It visits the towns, in company with the common swallow; and I 
remember seeing it comparatively numerous in and about Sydney, during 
a visit there in August, 1871. 
Hiswantopus ALBICOLLIS, Buller.—White-necked Stilt. 
Through the kind attention of Mr. C. H. Robson, I have received from 
Cape Campbell a Plover clearly referable to the above species, From the 
enlarged condition of the tarsi below the joint, it is evidently an immature 
bird, and this will account for the crown and hind neck being tinged or 
faintly mottled with grey, these parts being wholly white in the adult. The 
flanks, rump, and under tail-coverts are clouded with black; tail-feathers 
on their inner web and towards the base white ; the rest of the plumage as 
in my type. 
Axas SUPERCILIOSA, Gmel.—Grey Duck. 
As an instance of how the grey duck may be tamed by protection, I may 
mention that, on October 26, I saw a pair with eleven young ones within a 
few yards of Travers’ Bridge, Avon, almost in the heart of Christchurch, 
and several other pair in the vicinity. It has generally been found almost 
impossible to domesticate this bird owing to its tendency to revert to the 
wild state. But lately, when riding between Woodville and the Manawatu 
Gorge, I saw, ata“ cockatoo homestead,” a flock of domestic ducks on the 
roadside, and with them a perfectly tame Anas superciliosa, apparently 2 
bird of the first year. It was distinguishable at a glance from the rest, by 
its manner of walking, carrying its head low or in a crouching attitude. Its 
smaller size and more slender form also betrayed it, before I came near 
enough to examine the plumage, 
Ed 
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