Order PASSERES.] 
PETEOCHELIDON NIGEICANS. 
(AUSTRALIAN TREE-SWALLOW.) 
[Pam. HIRUNDINIILE. 
Hirundo nigricans, Vieill. N. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. xiv. p. 523 (1817). 
Dun-rumfed Swallow, Lath. Gen. Hist, of B. vii. p. 309 (1823). 
Hirundo pyrrhonota, Yig. & Iiorsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xv. p. 190 (1826). 
Herse nigricans, Less. Compl. Buff. viii. p. 497 (1837). 
Herse pyrrhonota, id. tom. cit. p. 497 (1837). 
Cecrojns nigricans, Boie, Isis, 1844, p. 175. 
Collocalia arborea, Gould, B. of Austr. ii. pi. 14 (c. 1845). 
Chelidon arborea , id. op. cit. i. Intr. p. xxix (1848). 
Petrochelidon nigricans, Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 47 (1850). 
Hylochelidon nigricans, Gould, Handb. B. of Austr. i. p. Ill (1865) ; Buller, Birds of New 
Zealand, 1st ed. p. 141 (1873). 
Ad. supra purpurascenti-niger : fronte conspicua ferruginesi indistincte nigro maculata : uropygio rufescenti-fulvo, 
scapis plumarum brunneo indicatis : supracaudalibus brunneis uropygii colore lavatis, scapis eodem modo 
indicatis : tectricibus alarum minimis dorso concoloribus, majoribus et remigibus brunneis, concoloribus : 
cauda brurmca reetrice extima pogonio interno albo notata : remigum rectricumque scapis supra brunneis, 
subtus albidis : loris cum regione oculari et parotica nigricantibus : genis et colli lateribus sordide fulvis 
brunnescente variis : subtus fulvescens, corporis lateribus et subalaribus ferrugineis : gutture lineis longitu- 
dinalibus parvissimis, pectore et hypochondriis lineis angustioribus et longioribus striatis : rostro brunueo : 
pedibus brunneis : iride nigra. 
Juv. similis adulto, sed supra magis brunnescens : uropygio fulvescenti-albido : subtus albicans, corporis lateralibus 
vix rufescente tinctis. 
Adult male. Forehead chestnut-brown; crown of the head, bind neck, the whole of the back, and the small 
wing-coverts glossy steel-blue ; rump and inferior upper tail-coverts yellowish buff mixed with pale rufous, 
each feather with a narrow shaft-line of dark brown ; longer upper tail-coverts dark brown with paler edges ; 
throat, fore part and sides of neck, and all the under surface pale yellowish buff, marked on the throat with 
numerous touches of brown, stained on the sides of the body, inner linings of wings, and under tail-coverts 
with chestnut-brown ; quills and tail-feathers dark brown, with paler shafts, greyish on their under surface 
and slightly glossed above. Irides black; bill, tarsi, and toes light brown. Total length 5'25 inches ; wing, 
from flexure, 4‘5 ; tail, to extremity of lateral feathers, 2 25 (middle feathers ’4 shorter) ; bill, along the 
ridge '25, along the edge of lower mandible - 5, breadth at the gape '4 ; tarsus ’4; middle toe and claw ‘55 ; 
hind toe and claw '45. 
Female. Slightly smaller than the male, with the colours somewhat duller and the markings on the throat less 
distinct ; but, as a matter of fact, the sexes are scarcely distinguishable from each other. 
Young. Plumage of the upper parts duller, the head and back being dark umber-brown with only a slight steel 
gloss ; the rump and tail-coverts yellowish brown, witli darker shafts ; the uuderparts altogether lighter, 
the abdomen and under tail-coverts being fulvous white, and the throat more distinctly spotted with brown. 
The Tree-Swallow, which is a native of Australia, was first admitted into our list of birds on the 
authority of a specimen shot by Mr. Lea at Taupata, near Cape Farewell, on the 14th of March, 
1856, and still preserved in the Otago Museum. 
