Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/328

1494 "Acanthylis caudacata, Australian Spine-tailed Swallow.

"Hirundo caudacuta, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp. p. 57. sp. 1. Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. vii. p. 307. Vieill. 2nd. edit, du Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. torn. xiv. p. 535, and Ency. Meth. Orn. pt. ii. p. 53L

"Needle-tailed Swallow? Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp. vol. ii. p. 307. Steph. Cont. Shaw's Gen. Zool. vol. x. p. 133.

"Pin-tailed Swallow, Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. vii. p. 308.

"Chætura australis, Steph. Cont. Shaw's Gen. Zool. vol. xiii. p. 76.

"Hirundo pacifica, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp. p. 58. Vieill. 2nd. edit, du Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. torn. xiv. p. 511, and Ency. Meth. Orn.pt. ii. p. 529.

"New Holland Swallow? Lath, Gen. Syn. Supp. vol. ii. p. 259. Steph. Cont. Shaw's Gen. Zool. vol. x. p. 132. Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. vii. p. 308.

"Chætura macroptera, Swains. Zool. 111. 2nd. series.pl. 42. Gould's 'Birds of Australia,' pt. ii. cancelled.

"This noble species, the largest of the Hirundinidæ yet discovered, is a summer visitant of the eastern portion of Australia, proceeding* as far south as Van Diemen's land, but its visits to this island are not so regular as to New South Wales, and its stay in these southern lati- tudes is never protracted. The months of January and February are those in which it has been most frequently observed in Van Diemen's Land, where it simultaneously appears in large flocks, which, after spending a few days, disappear as suddenly as they arrive. I am not aware of its having been observed in Western Australia, neither has it occurred in any of the collections formed at Port Essington.

"The keel or breast-bone of this species is more than ordinarily deep, and the pectoral muscles more developed than in any other bird of its weight with which I am acquainted. Its whole form is es- pecially and beautifully adapted for aerial progression, and, as its lengthened wings would lead us to imagine, its power of flight, both for rapidity and extension, is truly amazing; hence it readily passes from one part of the country to another, and, if so disposed, may be engaged in hawking for flies on the continent of Australia at one moment, and in half an hour be similarly employed in Van Diemen's Land.

"So exclusively is this bird a tenant of the air, that I never in any instance saw it perch, and but "rarely sufficiently near the earth to ad- mit of a successful shot ; it is only late in the evening and during lowering weather that such an object can be accomplished. With the