2i6 BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF GEELONG 
which, however, is not fast, but may be removed by 
moistening and rubbing. In the neighbourhood of 
Heidelberg, Melbourne, this bird's eggs were in 
the years 1884-5 much more commonly found by 
the village boys (it was only a remote village then) 
than were those of the Narrow-billed Cuckoo. Here 
in the Geelong district, however, you might find 
twenty of the Narrow-billed's eggs for one of the 
Bronze. And in my experience the Bronze Cuckoo 
never chooses for its egg any other nest than that 
of the Yellow-tailed Tit. I am aware that this is 
not so in other parts of Australia. I have seen eggs 
from the You Yangs and the bush about Drysdale, 
and one from a garden within the Geelong city limits ; 
this egg was of a uniform pale green. 
WELCOME SWALLOW 
Hirundo neoxena neoxena 
This I take to be the best-known of all Australian 
birds. It is universally protected both by law and 
sentiment ; kindly individuals will put up a board 
under the nest to obviate the litter on the veranda 
floor rather than destroy the little creatures' mud- 
built home. September sees a nest or two above 
shop-fronts in the main street of every Victorian 
town, and by the end of October the first brood is 
on the wing, their places in the re-decorated nest 
soon to be occupied by a second family. 
