108 THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY 



of some of our Australian birds, among them those of Smith's 

 Cat-bird, a description of which, I have been for a long time 

 under the impression I had forwarded to the Zoological 

 Society of London. However, as it has not appeared in any 

 of the Society's "Proceedings," I presume I must have forgotten 

 it, or, what is more likely, that it has miscarried, as I find I 

 had described both nest and eggs in my note book a few days 

 after receiving them. 



Ailurj:dus smithii. Vig. and Eorsf. 



Smith's Cat-bird. 



The nest of this species is not unlike that of Oreocincla lunu- 

 lata ; it is rounded, open above, and placed between upright 

 forks of trees in dense scrubs and thickly wooded parts of the 

 country ; it is composed of rootlets, moss, and shreds of fern 

 bark, &c, and ornamented with green mosses, chiefly a species 

 of Hypnum found in the dense and damp scrubs ; the lining is 

 chiefly composed of fine rootlets. Height, 2 inches ; diameter, 

 6 inches ; depth inside, 1| inches ; diameter inside, 3| inches. 



The eggs are three to four in number, comparatively 

 small for the size of the bird, being in length 1*2 inches by 8*5 

 inches in breadth ; the ground colour is of a delicate bluish 

 green, sprinkled all over with light reddish brown dots and spots, 

 larger and more crowded on the thicker end, and with also a few 

 irregular linear scratchy markings or hair lines. 



The nest and Eggs were taken at Stanwell, in the Illawarra 

 district. 



Hylacola pyrrhopygia. Vig. 



The red-nimped Hylacola. 



The nest of this species is usually hidden at the base of a 

 clump of bushes and grass, or in some bushy shrub near the 

 ground ; sometimes resting on the ground, and at all times very 

 difficult to find. I first found them breeding on the Dobroyde 

 Estate, in 1860, where I procured both adults and young. The 



