COLLOCALIA ARIEL, Gould.
Fairy Martin.
Collocalia Artel, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., October 11, 1842.
U n t i l my arrival in the colony o f New South Wales I had no idea of the existence o f this new and beautiful
Martin, nor in fact until I was awakened by its twittering notes at the bed-room window o f the inn at
Maitland, did I discover that I was surrounded by hundreds of this species, which were breeding under the
verandahs and corners of the windows, precisely after the manner o f the Common Martin o f Europe.
Several o f their bottle-shaped nests were built round the house, and from these I obtained as many eggs as
I desired.
It is numerously dispersed over all the southern portions o f Australia, and like every other member o f the
genus it is strictly migratory, making the southern latitudes its summer residence. It usually arrives in the
month o f August and departs again in February or March; during this interval it rears two or three
broods. The Fairy Martin, unlike the favourite Swallow o f the Australians, although enjoying a most extensive
range, appears to have an antipathy to the country near the sea, for neither in New South Wales
nor at Swan River have I ever heard of its approaching the coast-line nearer than twenty m iles; hence while
I never observed it at Sydney, the town of Maitland on the Hunter is annually visited by it in great numbers.
In Western Australia it is common between Northam and York, while the towns of Perth and Fremantle on
the coast, are, like Sydney, unfavoured with its presence. I observed it throughout the district of the Upper
Hunter, as well as in every part o f the interior, breeding in various localities, wherever suitable situations
presented themselves, sometimes in the holes o f low decayed trees; while not unfrequently clusters of
nests were attached to the perpendicular banks o f rivers, the sides of rocks, &c., always, however, in the
vicinity of water. The nest, which is bottle-shaped with a long neck, is composed o f mud or clay, and like
that o f our Common Martin, is only constructed in the morning and evening, unless the day be wet or lowery.
In the construction of the nests they appear to work in small companies, six or seven assisting in the
formation o f each nest, one remaining within and receiving the mud brought by the others in their mouths:
in shape they are nearly round, but vary in size from four to six or seven inches in diameter; the spouts
being eight, nine or ten inches in length. When built on the sides o f rocks or in the hollows o f trees they
are placed without any regular order, in clusters o f thirty or forty together, some with their spouts inclining
downwards, others at right angles, & c.; they are lined with feathers and fine grasses. The eggs, which are
four or five in number, are sometimes white, at others spotted and blotched with red; eleven-sixteenths of
an inch long by half an inch broad.
Its flight closely resembles that o f the Common Martin ; the stomach is tolerably muscular and the food
consists o f small flies.
The sexes cannot be distinguished by their outward appearance.
Crown of the head rust-red; back, scapularies and wing-coverts deep steel-blue; wings and tail dark
brown ; rump huffy white; upper tail-coverts brown ; under surface white, tinged with rust-red, particularly
on the sides o f the neck and flanks ; the feathers o f the throat with a fine line of dark brown down the
centre; irides blackish brown ; bill blackish g r ey ; legs and feet olive-grey.
The figures are of the natural size.