970 NOTES ON THE NIDIFICATION OF SPHECOTHERES MAXILLARIS, 



NOTES ON THE NIDIFICATION OF SPHECOTHERES 

 M AXILLARIS, (LATH.), AND OF CAMPEPHAGA 

 LEJJCOMELjENA, (V. k H.), WITH DESCRIPTIONS 

 OF THEIR EGGS. 



By R. D. Fitzgerald, Junr. 

 (Communicated hy Dr. E. P. Ramsay, F.R. S.E.J 



Sphecotheres maxillaris, Lath. 



S. australis, Gould, Bds. Aust. Handb., p. 467, sp. 286. 



This remarkable species, which appears to be somewhat grega. 

 rious in its habits, I found breeding during the latter part of 

 October and the beginning of November in the brushes of the 

 Richmond River, where the birds are plentiful. 



The nests, of which several were discovered in adjoining trees, 

 are rather slight and shallow, constructed of small thin twigs 

 interwoven loosely, not unlike a large nest of Pachycephala 

 gutturalis, and are usually placed at the extremity of a 

 horizontal branch about twenty feet from the ground, the tree 

 most favoured being the Plindersia (?). Three nests obtained on 

 November 4th, contained each three eggs, which appear to be 

 the regular number for a sitting, all quite fresh. An average- 

 sized pair of these eggs measure as follows : — (A) Length, 1'25 x 

 0-88 inch ; (B) Length, 1-25 x 0-9 inch. 



The ground color varies from olive-brown to dull apple-gi'een ; 

 the spots sometimes confluent and forming small irx'egular blotches 

 are of a reddish-brown, in some brighter and ledder, in others 

 very like those on the eggs of Cr adieus destructor; the markings are 

 distributed over the whole surface, but are usually closer together 

 on the thicker end, where in some they form an irregular zone. 



