Australia and Tasmania, arriving in August and retiring northwards as autumn 

 approaches. It is a very familiar species, and frequents the towns in company with the 

 Swallow. I observed it to be particularly numerous in the streets of Ilobart Town, 

 where it arrives early in September ; the more southern and colder situation of the 

 island rendering all migratory birds later in their arrival there. 



" It breeds during the month of October in the holes of trees, making no nest, but 

 laying its eggs on tbe soft dust generally found in such places : the eggs are from three 

 to five in number, of a pinky white faintly freckled at the larger end with fine spots of 

 light reddish brown ; they are eight lines long by sis lines broad. 



" Considerable difference exists both in size and in the depth of colouring of specimens 

 killed in New South Wales, Swan River, and Tasmania ; but as there exists no distinctive 

 character of marking, I regard them as local varieties rather than as distinct species. 

 Tasmanian specimens are larger in all their admeasurements, and have the fulvous tint 

 of the under surface and the band across the forehead much deeper than in those killed 

 in New South Wales ; individuals from the latter locality again exceed in size those from 

 Western Australia." 



Sir Walter Buller has recorded several instances of the occurrence of this Swallow 

 in New Zealand, where it is only of rare and occasional occurrence. Mr. Lea shot a 

 specimen at Taupata, near Cape Earewell, on the 14th of March, and the specimen is in 

 the Otago Museum. Mr. P. Jollie observed a flight at Wakapuaka, in the vicinity of 

 Nelson, in the summer of 1851, and shot one specimen. According to Sir David Monro, 

 it has occurred several times near Nelson (Trans. N. Z. Inst. vii. p. 510). Lastly, 

 Mr. J. R. W. Cook, writing to Sir W. Buller, states that he noticed a Swallow on the 

 9th of June about two miles from Blenheim, on the bank of the Opawa River, and from 

 the description given it was evidently the Australian species. 



In South-eastern New Guinea Mr. Goldie has procured this Swallow about 15 miles 

 inland from Port Moresby, but it was not common. Dr. Pinsch mentions it in ' The 

 Ibis ' (/. c.) as occurring in New Britain, but he does not allude to the species in his 

 ' Vogel der Siidsee.' D'Albertis met with it at Sorong, in North-western New Guinea, 

 and a specimen from Dourga, in the same island, is in the Leyden Museum. Mr. Wallace 

 procured it in the Aru Islands, where it was also collected by the naturalists of the 

 ' Challenger ' expedition. Dr. Beccari has also shot the species in the Ke Islands. On 

 Timor it appears to be replaced by a slightly modified race. 



The descriptions are taken from the British-Museum ' Catalogue of Birds,' and the 

 figure in the Plate is drawn from a specimen in the possession of Captain Wardlaw 

 Ramsay. 



