f 384 ) 



very fine fjrasses aud rootlets. It measures outside ronjrlily U em. across; the 

 cni)" about 8, with a depth of about 4i cm. The eggs are like those of the other 

 forms, but smaller, measuring 20 x 17-9, 25-4 x 18-4, 2.5-3 x 18-4, 25 x 18 mm. 



Dendroica aureola ((iould). 



Nov. Ziuii.. VI, isno, p. 117. 



Mr. Beck sent some nests and notes on this bird. On Wenman he saw them 

 mating on February 1st. Among the green trees on the toj) of the island several 

 pairs were seen, the males being iii full song, but no nests were found. On 

 Karborough a nearly complete nest was found on March 29th. It was on a 

 mangrove"branch, 20 ft. above the water, near the edge of the mangrove swanij.. 

 The female was building the nest. Another pair was seen collecting material. 

 At Tagus Cove, Albemarle, nests were found on April Srd and 4th. They were 

 mostl/in the tops of trees, in the fork of a limb, from 8 to 1.5 ft. high, but one 

 was only 3| ft. high. 



The ne'sts are fairly neat structures, reminding one of the nests of Syhia 

 ciiierea, though they are differently placed— viz. in the lorks of twigs on bushes. 

 The nests are constructed of dry weed-stems and grasses, lined with softer and 

 finer grass, and outside for their greater part thickly covered with cotton balls. 

 One nest has a few hairs in the lining, another some features of Geospizn. The 

 cup measures about 4i to »h cm. across, and is 3 to 4 cm. deep. From two to four 

 ec'irs were found in the nests, but Beck says in his notes that four seems to be the 

 usual number of a full clutch. 



The eggs (three clutches from Albemarle) are of a whitish cream colour, 

 patched, blotched, spotted, and scribbh'd with deep puri)lish brown, or in one clutch 

 with rufous brown, and with underlying i)ale purplish-grey patches and spots, the 

 markings more or less confined tu a zone near the thick end. The eggs from 

 Albema'rle (April 3rd and 4th) measure 17i x 13f,i:^ x 14, KU x 13^, ITi x 13J, 

 ITf X 13| mm. 



With rc'^ard to nests and eggs taken on Chatham Island there is apparently 

 some confusion, as the dates on the labels and in the notes do not agree, nor agrees 

 that on a female said to have been procured with the eggs. The nest before us 

 from Chatkam is undoubtedly that of a Dendroica, but the three eggs (not four, as 

 said on the label with the nests) differ from those from Albemarle, and agree fully 

 with those of a smaller (ieospiza, being white (not whitish cream-colour) and finer 



marked. 



Mr. Beck says that these birds, during the nesting season, feed on insects and 

 worms, of which there is an abundance; but that they are also seen feeding between 

 stones and rocks at low tide. 



Genus <i:i!ril I PEA. 

 Certhidea olivacea olivacea Gould. 



N,,v. Z VI, IKTO, p. 148. 



AVe have received two fine adult mules with the entire throat, lores, and ring 

 round the eyes rufous cinnamon : and two/em'i/e.i from Tagus Cove, (Jreeu coll. 



Mr. Beck did not see this liird on Narborough, though he visited the same 

 places where he secured specimens iu 1.SU7. He observed that all the birds were 



