HIRUND0. 
31 
on April 17th, 1SG1, I took a nest with fresh eggs from the same 
buildings.” 
“ In choosingasitefor the nest they seem to be even less particular 
than in their time of breeding. Almost any building will serve 
them where they can obtain a horizontal beam or ledge. On this 
they place their round bowl-shaped nest, the wall of which is 
composed of pellets of mud, mingled with grass, and securely 
fastened on the beam. As soon as the mud-work is dry, it is 
warmly lined with grasses, horsehair, or feathers ; and the nest 
is then ready for the eggs, which are usally from three to five in 
number, 075 inch in length by 0'5 in breadth. The ground colour 
is of a delicate white, having numerous dots and freckles of 
yellowish-brown and faint lilac sprinkled over the whole surface, 
but more thickly at the larger end. The nests are 1 to G inches 
wide by 2'5 inches deep.” 
“In 1858, while fishing off a small steamer, which having been 
out of use for some months, was moored a few hundred yards from 
the North Shore, in the Sydney Harbour, 1 observed a pair of these 
Swallows fly round the boat, and frequently dive underneath the 
paddle-box. After a long search I discovered their nest, which 
was composed of‘black pitchy mud, lined with seaweed and 
feathers. It was placed upon one of the horizontal beams of the 
paddle-box, and Contained three young ones about half fledged. 
The man in charge informed me that the nest had been made when 
the steamer was lying lower down the harbour, and upon its being 
tugged to where it then lay the birds flew round and round it the 
whole time, evidently in a great state of excitement.” ( Ramsay , 
fhi*, 18G8, Vol. i\\, New' Series, p. 275.) 
A set of the eggs of this species in the Australian Museum 
Collection measures as follows length (A) 073 x 05 inch ; (I!) 
07-1 x 0-59 inch ; (0) 0-72 x 0-58 inch ; (D) 076 x OG inch ; (E) 
073 x 058 inch. 
Hah. Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, Rockingham Bay, Port 
Denison, Wide Bay District, Dawson River, Richmond and 
Clarence Rivers Districts, New South Wales, Interior, Victoria 
and South Australia, Tasmania, West and South-West Australia. 
(Ramsay.) 
