AUSTRALIAN SWIFTS.

Colonist, Volume LIV, Issue 13413, 10 May 1912, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN SWIFTS.

At the end of March, Mr Ivan G. L. Blythe reported that he had seen an Australian, swift at Mount Eden, Auckland, and asked if other observers had noted swifts in this Dominion. Mr. A. Hansen now states that two were seen by him on Portland Island, and were reported in this column in the springs of 1899 and 1900. Only one bird was seen on each occasion. They were to all appearance quite happy and felt at home. They did not show the least fear, and allowed him to get quite close to them as they were sitting on the fence wires or stays of the flagstaff. They did not leave the immediate vicinity of the lighthouse on the island, and only stayed one day. Probably they were attracted to the light during the. night, as they were first seen early in the morning. Another swift was seen by the late Mr. James Barrowman, a very reliable observer, at Cape Foulwind, near Westport, flying along the railway line. These are the only instances known to Mr. Hansen in which these stray visitors from over the Tasman Sea have been seen on this side. "It would be of .more than passing interest," he says, "to know what eventually" becomes of these stragglers. Probably they find their way back again, but no evidence so far is available to prove it.—"Lyttelton Times."