WHITE-BROWED WOOD-SWALLOW. 
A typical clutch of three is oval in shape, ground colour of a dirty or creamy-white, 
well speckled and spotted all over with markings of umber and pale slate, forming 
a well marked zone at the large end. Surface of shell fine, smooth, and rather 
glossy. The clutch measures 23-24 mm. by 17-18. 
Nest. An open and frail structure, rather saucer-shaped and shallow. Constructed of 
dried grasses, rootlets, strips of bark and thin twigs, etc., and lined with fine grass 
or rootlets. Dimensions usually about 4 inches across by 2 in depth, and egg 
cavity nearly 3 inches across by 1 inch in depth. Nest is placed in a variety of 
situations, but usually in a bush or a tree. 
Breeding-season. October to January. 
Wi-ien Gould projected his great work on Australian birds he anticipated 
it by a publication entitled : “A Synopsis of the Birds of Australia and the 
adjacent islands, in which figures of heads, wings and feet were given. These 
are beautifully drawn and coloured and on the first plate appears the head 
of the present species. It is fully described in the accompanying letterpress, 
reference being given to the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 
for 1837 ; as the first part of the Synopsis appeared on January 1st, 1837, 
and the Proceedings quoted not until much later, the earliest published account 
is obviously that in the Synopsis. 
Of this fine species Gould wrote : “ There is no species of Artamus yet 
discovered to which the present yields the palm, either for elegance of form, 
or for the beauty and variety of its plumage. . . I am unable to say what 
is the extent of its range, but I am induced to believe that it is confined to 
Australia, and that in all probability it seldom leaves the interior of the 
country ; the extreme limits of the colony of Neve South Wales, particularly 
those which border the extensive plains, being the only parts where it has 
yet been observed. I first met with it at Yarrundi on the Dart brook, a 
tributary of the Hunter, where it was thinly dispersed among the trees 
growing on the stony ridges bordering the flats. From this locality to as far 
as I penetrated northwards on the Namoi, as well as in the direction of the 
River Peel, it was distributed in similar numbers, intermingled with the 
Artamus sordidus, at about the ratio of one hundred pairs to the square mile, 
the two species appearing to live and perform the task of incubation in perfect 
harmony, both being frequently observed on the same tree. In their dis- 
positions, however, and in many of their actions, they are somewhat 
dissimilar, the A. superciliosus being much more shy and difficult of approach 
than the A. sordidus, which is at all times very tame ; it also gives a preference 
to the topmost branches of the highest trees, from wdiich it sallies forth for 
the capture of insects, and to which it again returns, in the usual manner 
of the tribe. In every part where I have observed it, it is strictly migratory, 
arriving in summer, and departing northwards after the breeding-season.” 
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