THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
shafts at the base ; lower aspect of tail dark brown. Bill black ; eyes brown ; 
feet brown. Total length 147 mm. ; culmen 5, wing 100, tail 74, tarsus u! 
Figured. Collected on the Fitzroy River, North-west Australia, on the 29th of 
May, 1911. And is the type of C. 1. marngli Mathews. 
Adult male. Similar to the adult female. 
Immature. Have the dark feathers brown not blackish. 
N est. A hole in a bank, culminating in a chamber lined with grass, leaves, etc. 
Eggs. Clutch, four or five. White. 17 mm. by 12. 
Breeding-season. August to December. 
Gould named every species of Swallow that he identified from Australia 
and this is one of the fine novelties included in the lot. Apparently he never 
met with it himself, as he wrote : Is a very wandering species, never very 
numerous, and is generally seen in small flocks of from ten to twenty in 
number, sometimes in company with the other Swallows. It usually flies 
very high, a circumstance which renders it difficult to procure specimens ” ; 
and then quoted Gilbert’s notes. 
Mr. Thos. P. Austin, of Cobbora, New South Wales, has written me : 
About ten years ago these beautiful little Swallows were fairly numerous 
throughout this district, but of late years they have been rather scarce. At 
one time they remained here the whole year, but now only a few are to be seen 
during the spring and summer months. Although I know some observers state 
that they usually fly very high, such is not the case in this district, as they 
are very seldom seen flying more than a hundred feet from the ground. In 
certain lights they look most extraordinary birds, owing to their white heads 
and chests being quite invisible, and they just look like a pair of wings and 
a tail flying about. They are generally met with in small flocks of anything 
up to a dozen in number, gracefully flying over the ground in a very similar 
manner to the House Swallow. They mostly breed singly, but at times in 
small communities, drilling a mouse-like hole into a bank of a river or a creek 
often three feet in length, with an enlarged cavity at the end, which is lined 
with about two handfuls of dry eucaiypt leaves and dry grass. A great 
many of their nesting-holes are deserted when only a few inches in length 
owing to the ground being too hard. I have examined nesting-holes with 
only one entrance, but branching off in three or four different directions inside, 
all of which have been abandoned owing to the hard nature of the soil. 
Excepting when breeding, I have never seen this species perched, and even 
then, very seldom, and only in dead trees, and when drilling their nesting 
burrows.” 
Berney, writing from North Queensland, said : “ The Black and White 
Swallow may be seen here at any time through the year, but never in any 
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