Adult male. General colour above deep steel-blue, slightly streaked with dusky white where the light 

 bases of the feathers show through ; lesser wing-coverts like the back, the remainder dusky brown 

 as well as the quills, the innermost secondaries with a narrow edging of dull white at the tip; 

 lower back and rump whity brown, slightly washed with sandy rufous, the feathers edged with 

 creamy white and having blackish shafts ; upper tail-coverts dusky brown, rather broadly edged 

 with creamy white ; tail-feathers dusky brown ; a frontal band of pale brick-red extending back- 

 wards to the corner of the eye; the base of the forehead near the culmen minutely spotted with 

 dull steel-blue ; lores, feathers round the eye, and ear-coverts sooty blackish ; sides of the neck 

 sandy buff, streaked with dull black ; cheeks and throat dull whitish, with a tinge of buff, the 

 feathers minutely streaked with dusky blackish shaft-lines ; fore neck, chest, and sides of body 

 pale sandy rufous, with narrow shaft-lines of dusky, less distinct on the flanks ; breast and abdo- 

 men paler, being whitish with a sandy-rufous tinge; the under tail-coverts similarly coloured, and 

 having dusky shaft-lines ; sides of upper breast with a patch of blackish or dull blue ; under wing- 

 coverts and axillaries deeper sandy rufous, with dusky shaft-lines ; quills dusky below, rather 

 paler along the inner web : " bill blackish brown ; legs and feet olive-brown ; iris blackish brown " 

 (Gould). Total length 5 - 2 inches, culmen 0-3, wing 4 - 2, tail 2T, tarsus 0'5. 



Young. Distinguished from the adult by the absence of the rufous band on the forehead, which is replaced 

 by a few sandy-buff feathers. The whole tone of coloration is duller in the young than in the old 

 birds, the upper surface being dusky brown with more or less of a blue gloss, the inner secondaries 

 edged with pale rufous at the tips. The under surface is paler than in the adult. 



Some specimens are remarkable for the rufous glow which pervades their lower surface; these are pro- 

 bably old birds killed in spring. It seems certain that, after breeding, this tinge is lost and the 

 plumage becomes more or less abraded, the chest fades to smoky brown in colour, and the throat, 

 breast, and under tail-coverts are purer white. The rump, which iu breeding birds is strongly 

 suffused with rufous, also becomes gradually bleached, and fades to a dull whitish or pale 

 smoky brown. 



The size of the present species appears to vary to an unusual extent for a Swallow — the wing 

 in adults ranging from 4 to 4'35 inches, a remarkable difference for so small a bird. 



Mr. Gould seems to consider that these differences of size are coincident with locality ; but we 

 have not remarked this particularly, and it is hardly likely to be the case with such a strictly 

 migratory species. 



Huh. Australia generally and Tasmania. Accidental in New Zealand. New Britain, New Guinea, Aru 

 Islands, Ke Islands. 



The broad whitish band across the lower back and rump easily distinguishes this species 

 of Cliff-Swallow, which is essentially an Australian bird. It is very widely distributed 

 over the Australian continent, and, according to Mr. Ramsay, it is found everywhere 

 with the exception of Port Darling and Port Essington; it doubtless occurs in these 

 places also, but has not yet been observed by a competent naturalist. 



Mr. Gould has given the following account of the species as observed by him in 

 Australia : — 



" The Tree-Swallow is a very common summer visitant to the southern portions of 



