The neai^est ally of the Australian Swallow is Hlrundo jacanica, a widely spread species 

 over the Malayan subregion and the Moluccas. The Australian bird, however, is a 

 somewhat larger and paler bird, the rufous of the throat being of a brick-red colour and 

 not so deep chestnut, while the smoky brown of the sides of the body has somewhat of a 

 ruddy tinge, and is not nearly so dark as the deep mouse-brown colour of the sides in 

 H. javanica, which has also very dark under wing-coverts. 



H. neoxena is apparently confined to the continent of Australia, in nearly every 

 part of which country it is found, though its migrations have not yet been strictly 

 accounted for. The following are Mr. Gould's notes on the sj^ccies : — 



" The arrival of this bird in the southern portions of Australia is hailed as a welcome 

 indication of the approach of spring, and is associated with precisely the same ideas as 

 those popularly entertained respecting our own pretty Swallow in England. The two 

 species are in fact beautiful representatives of each other, and assimilate not only in 

 their migratory movements, but also most closely in their whole habits, actions, and 

 economy. It arrives in Tasmania about the middle or end of September, and, after 

 rearing at least two broods, departs again northwards in March ; but it is evident that 

 the migratory movement of the Swallow, and doubtless that of all other birds, is 

 regulated entirely by the temperature, and the more or less abundant supply of 

 food necessary for its existence; for 1 found that in New South Wales, and every 

 country in Australia within the same latitude, it arrived much earlier and departed 

 considerably later than iu Tasmania ; and Mr. Caley, who resided in New South Wales 

 for several years, and whose valuable notes on the birds of that part of the country 

 have been so often quoted, states that ' the earliest jieriod of the year that I noticed the 

 appearance of Swallows was on the 12tli of July, 1803, when I saw two ; but I remarked 

 several towards the end of the same month in the following year (1801). The latest 

 period I observed them was on the 30th of May, 1806, when a number of them were 

 twittering and flying high in the air. When I missed them at Paramatta, I have some- 

 times met with them among the north rocks, a romantic spot about two miles to the 

 northward of the former place.' A few stragglers remain in New South AVales during 

 the winter, but their numbers cannot for a moment be compared with those observed in 

 the summer, which have passed the colder months in a warmer climate. 



"The natural breeding-places of this bird are the deep clefts of rocks and dark 

 caverns ; but since the colonization of Australia it has in a remarkable degree imitated 

 its European prototype, by selecting for the site of its nest the smoky chimneys, the 

 chambers of mills and out-houses, or the corner of a shady ver^mdah ; the nest is also 

 similarly constructed, being open at the top, formed of mud or clay, intermingled with 

 grass or straw to bind it firmly together, and lined first with a layer of fine grasses, and 

 then with feathers. The sliajie of the nest depends upon the situation in which it is 

 built, but it generally assumes a rounded contour in front. The eggs are usually lour 

 in number, of a lengthened form ; their ground-colour pinky white, with numerous fine 

 spots of purplish brown, the intersj)aces with specks of light greyish brown, assuming in 



