WELCOME SWALLOW. 
miles to the northward of the former place. The natives called the Swallow 
‘ B errin' nin ’ ; they told me it built its nest in the hollow limbs of white 
gum-trees, using bark, grass, hair or similar substances. Though I have seen 
Swallows more or less throughout the year, yet it is my belief that they are 
migratory.” 
Mr. Thos. P. Austin has written me : “ Probably there is no Australian 
bird better known and more respected than the Welcome Swallow ; even 
many of the small boys with a shangi, who usually try to shoot any bird 
they meet with, will in many cases refrain from interfering with this species. 
Almost anywhere there is a dwelling, one or more pairs of this lovely little 
creature will be found. Some seasons a few will remain with us at Cobbora, 
N.S.W., throughout the year, but even though they seek the protection of 
buildings during the nights, they look most miserable in the cold, frosty 
mornings. I know of no bird which is more sociable with human beings. In 
Sydney and other large towns I have often seen them flying with graceful 
and rapid flight in and out of city business buildings, also threading their 
way practically through the very traffic in the streets. Everyone is so 
accustomed to seeing it that no more notice is taken of it than if it were a slight 
puff of wind. The graceful, accurate flight of this bird is simply marvellous. 
I have often seen them passing in and out of a small hole in a broken window- 
pane, so small that it would scarcely admit a person’s hand, and yet not a 
feather of the bird would touch the glass. Their food consists of insects 
captured during flight. They nest in a great variety of situations, such as 
down wells, in caves, on, the side of or under a ledge of a rocky cliff, inside 
dwelling-houses, open hollow trees, inside empty 400-gallon tanks, on rafters 
in outbuildings, etc., etc. It is no uncommon thing for a pair of these birds 
to rear two or three broods, one after the other, in the same nest, and to return 
and use the same nest year after year, if it remain, as it usually does on rafters 
in outbuildings. They usually start nesting in August and continue till 
January ; the young usually so much overcrowd the nest that they often get 
out of it about a week before they are able to fly and perch on the outer rim ; 
they often leave the nest altogether what appears to be a couple of days or 
so too soon, and consequently many get killed by cats.” 
Dove wrote : “ The Welcome Swallow reminds one of the House Martin 
in the Home countries by its utter fearlessness of man and its fondness for the 
neighbourhood of his dwellings. If there is a cottage at all handy the little 
Hirundo will fix its abode against the wall just under the inside corner of the 
verandah -roof, or on the top of the small ledge formed by the architrave over 
the window ; should the verandah be lacking, the nest will be placed up under 
the projecting eaves.” 
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