WELCOME SWALLOW. 
Welcome Swallow was fairly common bub not abundant at Point Cloates. 
Some were resident. They bred irrespective of the seasons, as Sept. 17th, 
1894, two eggs ; April 4th, 1901, three eggs; and so on. About Broome Hill 
and through the south-west Swallows are common, but here the nesting-season 
was September-October only, young being mostly found in the latter month, 
but once eggs were found in November. 
“Peculiar nesting-places were selected at Point Cloates, such as on the 
top of a bunch of three pannikins suspended on a string from a nail in the 
store (as recorded by Campbell) ; on the wreck on the reef two miles from 
land a nest was built of materials brought from the land.” 
Mr. Edwin Ashby has written me : “ Hirundo neoxena is common in every 
part of Australia I have visited, and very few remain with us at Blackwood, 
South Australia, through the winter. This species, together with Hylochelidon 
nigricans, congregate in thousands on the ground in the parklands a few 
hundred yards from the River Torrens, prior to migration : it is some years 
since I personally saw them, owing to change of residence, and I cannot now 
remember which species predominated.” 
This species was confounded with H. javanica by Vigors and Horsfield 
and was therefore named by Gould. I separated the western form, and these 
two subspecies should be still recognised. 
i\ 
39 
