BY A. J. NORTH. 409 



cup-shaped structure composed of the dried skeletons of leaves, 

 held together with spiders' webs, and neatly lined inside with fine 

 wiry grasses, the whole exterior surface being covered with thin 

 broad strips of perfectly white semi-transparent paper-like bark of 

 a Melaleuca, which gives it a very beautiful appearance. Ex- 

 terior diameter three one-eighth inches, depth two inches ; internal 

 diameter one and thi-ee-fourths inch, depth one and a-half inch. The 

 nest was attached by the rim to the thin branches of a shrub, 

 about five feet from the ground. The eggs were two in number, 

 but four is the full complement for a sitting, of a uniform pale 

 bluish-green, both specimens giving exactly the same measure- 

 ments, viz.: 0-72 inch in length, by 0*5 inch in breadth. 



Through the kindness of the Hon. Wm. Macleay, I have been 

 permitted to examine and describe a number of nests and eggs in 

 the Macleayan Museum, from which the above description is 

 taken. I am also indebted to Mr. George Masters, the Curator, 

 for supplying me with all the available information relative to 

 the taking of the same. 



SiTTELLA PILEATA, Gould. 



For the nest and eggs of this species, together with the bird 

 shot therefrom, I am indebted to Mr. James Hill, of Kewell, 

 Victoria, who procured them on the outskirts of the Mallee 

 country in the Wimmera district, in September, 1882. The nest 

 was built in the upright fork of a Casuarina about fifteen feet 

 from the ground, and is similar in every respect to that of aS'. 

 chrysojMra ; hence its description would be merely a repetition of 

 that of the nest of the latter species. Eggs three in number for a 

 sitting, the ground colour darker, and the blotches heavier, than 

 in S. chrysojJtera, being a deep bluish-white, with long slaty-black 

 markings, while appearing underneath the surface of the shell are 

 large superimposed blotches of dark lilac, which in some instances 

 are confluent ; the markings on the under surface are much larger 

 and more numerous than on the outer surface of the shell. 

 Length (A), 0-66 x 0-51 inch ; (B), 0-66 x 0-53 inch ; (C), 0-67 

 X 0"54 inch. 



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