MASKED WOOD-SWALLOW. 
something, and were not assembling together prior to further migration. 
Looking carefully on the trees where they had been feeding, a few scale 
insects at once arrested attention, and seemed a reasonable explanation for 
the attraction of the birds. However, shortly afterwards, one of my 
companions, Mr. Taylor, called my attention to glistening points, on the 
fine branchlets of some of these pines, that caught and reflected the morning 
fight. It was, he said, a honey secretion that appeared when 4 the sap 
began to move,’ i.e., about the time of flowering. When the small twigs 
of such a tree were handled, the hands became very sticky, whilst the branch- 
lets and leaves, when sucked, gave a sweet taste. A small bunch, taken 
to Sydney, was still quite sticky on arrival, and was handed over to Mr. H. 
G. Smith, of the Technological Museum, who was able to ascertain that the 
exudation, which was not associated with any insect parasite, was a true 
sugar. This phenomenon has apparently not been recorded previously. 
After having this interesting feature pointed out to me, I returned to my 
Wood-Swallows, and, by watching them, satisfied myself that they were 
indeed feeding on this secretion. I then recalled that, whilst skinning a 
Wood-Swallow on the previous evening, I had found the crown of the head 
sticky, as if from honey. One of each species shot was, it may be added, 
rolling in fat. It would be of interest to know whether the migration of 
these Wood-Swallows is in search, in part, of pines bearing this secretion, and 
wdiether annually they repair to particular areas for it. Iris very dark brown ; 
bill black at the tip, base bluey-grey ; pharynx blackish ; legs black, with a 
whitish bloom. Artamus personatus. This was met with in company with 
the preceding, and predominating, perhaps, greatly in numbers. Over 218 
birds of the two species were counted v r hilst travelling, thus avoiding- 
counting the same birds again. Probably many more w r ere actually seen 
altogether. Iris very dark brown ; bill black at the tip, base bluey-grey, 
inside of bill black ; pharynx flesh-coloured ; legs greyish- black with white 
bloom.” 
The above suggestion deserves consideration, as at present there seems 
to be little known regarding the causes of the irregular mob-movements of 
this and the next species. 
The technical history of this beautiful species is short and uninteresting. 
In 1906, Ingram, attracted by the coloration of birds from Northern Territory, 
described as new “ Artamus gracilis. Similar to A. personatus , but much 
more ashy in its general colour, the rump and upper tail-coverts being of a 
purer grey than the back and scapulars, which are almost uniform in colour 
with the head, and not dusky as in A. personatus. Total length 7 '3 inches, 
culmen *8, w r ing 4*7, tail 3'3, tarsus *8.” 
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