Part 19

Be-wö-wen, Aborigines of the lowland and mountain districts of Western Australia.

Wood Swallow of the colonists of ditto.

This bird exceeds in size all other of the Australian Wood Swallows, and as far as I am aware (not having seen the species from Madagascar, figured in the “Planches Enluminées,”) is the largest of the genus. Its large tail, most of the feathers of which are broadly tipped with white, as well as the colouring of its plumage, at once point out its close affinity to the Artamus sordidus and Artamus minor. Like them it possesses a very extensive range of habitat, Mr. Robert Brown having found it at Broad Sound on the east, and Mr. Gilbert on the west coast; it is also a native of Timor.

In Western Australia, although a very local, it is by no means an uncommon species, particularly at Swan River, where it inhabits the limestone hills near the coast, and the “Clear Hills” of the interior, assembling in small families, and feeding upon the seeds of the Xanthorrhœa which proves that insects do not form the sole diet of this species; with such avidity in fact does it devour the ripe seeds of this grass-tree, that several birds may frequently be seen crowded together on the perpendicular seed-stalks of this plant busily engaged in extracting them; at other times, particularly among the limestone hills, where there are but few trees, it descends to the broken rocky ground in search of insects and their larvæ.

It breeds in October and November, making a round compact nest, in some instances of fibrous roots, lined with fine hair-like grasses, in others of the stems of grasses and small plants; it is built either in a scrubby bush or among the grass-like leaves of the Xanthorrhœa, and is deeper and more cup-shaped than those of the other members of the group. The eggs are subject to considerable variation in colour and in the character of their markings; they are usually bluish white, spotted and blotched with lively reddish brown, intermingled with obscure spots and dashes of purplish grey; all the markings being most numerous towards the larger end; they are about eleven lines long by eight lines broad.

The sexes are alike in colour, and can only be distinguished from each other with certainty by dissection. I have remarked that specimens from Timor rather exceed in size those collected on the Australian continent, and are somewhat lighter in colour; but these variations are too slight to be regarded as specific.

Crown of the head, neck, throat and chest grey, passing into sooty grey on the abdomen; space between the bill and the eye, the forepart of the cheek, the chin, the upper and under tail-coverts jet-black; two middle tail-feathers black; the remainder black, largely tipped with white, with the exception of the outer feather on each side, in which the black colouring extends on the outer web nearly to the tip; wings deep grey; primaries bluish grey; under surface of the shoulder white, passing into grey on the under side of the primaries; irides dark blackish brown; bill light greyish blue at the base, black at the tip; legs and feet greenish grey.

The figures are those of a male and a female of the natural size.

ARTAMUS ALBIVENTRIS: Gould.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp. ]

ARTAMUS ALBIVENTRIS, Gould. White-vented Wood Swallow.

Artamus albiventris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., March 23, 1847.

Two examples of this species are all that have come under my notice; one of these was killed on the Darling Downs in New South Wales, and the other some distance to the northward of that locality, it being one of the birds procured during Dr. Leichardt’s expedition to Port Essington. Its nearest ally is the Artamus cinereus, a species inhabiting the opposite side of the continent; but it is somewhat smaller, and may moreover be distinguished from that bird by the white under tail-coverts, and the lighter colour of the lower part of the abdomen. I regret that I have no information to communicate respecting its habits and economy; they are doubtless very similar to those of its representative above alluded to.

Lores, space beneath the eye and the chin deep black; head, neck and upper part of the back brownish grey; lower part of the back and the wings dark grey, becoming gradually deeper towards the tips of the feathers; primaries and secondaries narrowly edged with white at the tip; under surface of the wing white; ear-coverts, chest and abdomen pale grey, passing into white on the under tail-coverts; upper tail-coverts and tail black; the apical third of all but the two middle ones white; irides dark brown; bill yellowish horn-colour, becoming black at the tip; feet blackish brown.

The figures are of the natural size.

ARTAMUS PERSONATUS: Gould.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter, del^t C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

ARTAMUS PERSONATUS, Gould. Masked Wood Swallow.

Ocypterus personatus, Gould, in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 149.

Jil̈-bung, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western Australia.

I have much pleasure in adding this new and highly interesting species of Artamus to the Wood Swallows of Australia, a country peculiarly adapted for this tribe of birds, and of which the fauna comprises a greater number of species of this group than that of any other. My knowledge of the range of this species is very limited; a single specimen was sent me from South Australia, while the fine examples from which my figures were taken were killed by Mr. Gilbert in the colony of Swan River. Its richly coloured black face and throat, separated from the delicate grey of the breast by a narrow line of snowy white, at once distinguishes it from every other species, while the strong contrast of these colours renders it a conspicuous object among the trees.

In size and structure it more nearly resembles the Artamus superciliosus than any other, and the two species form beautiful analogues of each other, one being in all probability confined to the eastern portion of the country, and the other to the western.

“I have only met,” says Mr. Gilbert, “with this species in the York and Zoodyay districts. It is very like Artamus sordidus in its habits, but is more shy and retired, never being seen but in the most secluded parts of the bush. It is merely a summer visitant here, generally making its appearance in the latter part of October, and immediately commencing the task of incubation. Its voice very much resembles the chirping of the English Sparrow.

“Its nest is placed in the upright fork of a dead tree, or in the hollow part of the stump of a grass-tree; it is neither so well nor so neatly formed as those of the other species of the group, being a frail structure externally composed of a very few extremely small twigs, above which is a layer of fine dried grasses. The eggs also differ as remarkably as the nest, their ground colour being light greenish grey, dashed and speckled with hair-brown principally at the larger end, and slightly spotted with grey, appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell; they are ten and a half lines long by eight and a half lines broad. I found two nests in a York Gum Forest, about five miles to the east of the Avon River: each of these contained two eggs, which I believe is the usual number.

“Its food consists of insects generally and their larvæ.”

The male has the face, ear-coverts and throat jet-black, bounded below with a narrow line of white; crown of the head sooty black, gradually passing into the deep grey, which covers the whole of the upper surface, wings and tail; the latter tipped with white; all the under surface very delicate grey; thighs dark grey; irides blackish brown; bill blue at the base, becoming black at the tip; legs and feet mealy bluish grey.

The female differs in having the colouring of the bill and the black mask on the face much paler.

The figures are those of a male and a female of the natural size.