BY A. F. BASSET HULL. 681 



The residents do not distinguish this species from Pseudo- 

 ^erygone insularis, but it is a smaller bird, and may be easily 

 j-ecognised by its yellow breast. 



I did not succeed in finding a nest of this bird. 



454(M). 61.PSEUD0GERYG0NE MODESTA Pelzeln. 



Ashy-fronted Gerygone; Humming Bird(N.I.). 



Gerygone mo£/eij^a,Ramsay,p.37; North,'Nests and Eggs,' p.410. 



Hah. — Norfolk Island. 



The Norfolk Island Gerygone is a busy little insect-hunter, all 

 •day long merrily trilling his chromatic scales in the more open 

 timbered country, and in the gardens of the residents. The nest 

 is similar in shape to that of G. alhigularis of the mainland, 

 •constructed of bark, grass, cowhair, wool, or any other soft 

 material handy; domed, and with a short protecting hood above 

 the entrance, lined with feathers, and suspended to a wild tobacco 

 twig, or amongst the dense leaves of the bloodwood. One nest I 

 examined was constructed almost entirely of wool gathered from 

 >tlie barbed-wire fences, bound together with long grasses and 

 horsehair. The lining contained only two or three feathers. The 

 regular breeding season extends from September to December, 

 ^ut a nest containing three fresh eggs was taken on the 20th 

 Eebruary, 1909. 



Eggs, clutch two to three (North, two to four), elongated oval, 

 varying from white to pale pinkish, finely spotted with dark red 

 or streaked, spotted, or blotched with pale red, generally well 

 ^distributed over the whole shell, but occasionally forming a cap 

 or zone at the larger end. 



Dimensions : 



(1) a, 0-63 X 0-50; 6, 067 x 0-51; c, 0-64 x 0-50(9th Nov. 1908). 



(2) a, 0-73 X 0-50; 6, 072 x 052; c, 0-73 x 0-52(29th Nov. 1908). 



(3) rt, 0-68 X 0-50; 6, 0-67 x 0-50(12th Nov., 1908). 



-458(M). 62.PsEUD0GERYG0NE INSULARIS Ramsay. 

 Rain-bird^ or Pop-goes-the-Weasel(L.H.I.). 

 Gerygone insularis Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, iii., 

 ,p.ll7(1878); Etheridge, 'Lord Howe Island,' p.9. 



