266 THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA 



Nest usually placed on the ground near a stump or log, and 

 is dome-shaped and made of grass and rootlets. The two eggs 

 are reddish-white, with purplish-brown markings, which are 

 confluent on the larger end. They measure .91 x .69 inch. 



The Rufous Scrub-bird. 



A. rufescens. 



The Eichmond and Clarence Eiver Districts of New South Wales. 



More rufous than preceding, and having upper tail-eoverts and tail- 

 feathers regularly barred across with black; the throat is whitish, the 

 centre of the breast black, the abdomen orange rufous. Total length 

 6.8 inches, culmen .65, wing 2.45, tail 2.85, tarsus .85. 



Nest and egg very similar to A. clamosa. The eggs measure 

 .89 X .68 inch. 



Family Hirundinidce. 



Broad-billed, Passeres with nine primaries. Cosmopolitan. 

 Swallows and Martins. 



All our Australian birds belong to the sub-family 

 HirundiiiincE, True Swallows, and all possess bare toes. Feed 

 on insects, which they capture on the wing. 



Key to the Genera. 



Tail strongly forked, the outer feather indented on the inner 

 web and elongated. Nostrils, the nasal apertures 

 longitudinal or oval. 

 A distinct superior membrane. Hirundo. 



Scarcely any superior membrane. Cheramceca. 



Tail square. Nostrils rounded and exposed, without any 



superior membrane. Petrochelidon. 



Genus Hirundo. 

 Cosmopolitan. H. gutturalis extends over a wide area from 

 Northern Asia through the Malay Archipelago to New Guinea 

 and Northern Australia; H. javanica from Southern India 

 through the Malay Archipelago to the islands of Torres Strait;. 

 H. neoxena replaces H. javanica in Australia and Tasmania. 



The Chimney Swallow. 



Hirundo gutturalis. 

 Above glossy purplish-blue, streaked with the white bases to the 

 feathers of the mantle, tail feathers, except central, with a large oval 

 white spot on the inner web; forehead, cheeks and throat dark-chestnut. 



