BY A. F. BASSET HULL. 685 



482(M). 64.RHIPIDURA macgillivrayi Sharpe. 



Fawn-breasted Fantail; Fantail(L.H.I.). 



Rhipidiira macgillivrayi Sharpe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1881, p. 789; 

 Wii'pidura cervinci Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S.Wales, iii. 

 p.340(1878); Etheridge, 'Lord Howe Island,' p.9. 



Hah. — Lord Howe Island. 



On my arrival at Lord Howe Island, 3rd October, 1907, Mr. 

 J. B. Waterhouse informed me that he had found a Fantail's- 

 nest near his house. On the following day I visited the spot, 

 and was shown a nest which the birds had built a few weeks 

 previously, but abandoned on completion. It was placed on a 

 horizontal twig of a small tree, about fifteen feet from the ground. 

 A fresh nesting-place had been chosen in a small prickly shrub, 

 overgrown with clematis, the nest being almost hidden amongst 

 the vine-leaves, securely fastened in the fork of a small 

 branch of the shrub. The female was sitting, and reluctantly 

 slipped off at our approach. The nest contained two eggs^ 

 and, thinking that the full complement had not been laid, I 

 left it until the 8th October. The female was still sitting on 

 that date, but no more eggs had been added to the original two^ 

 which were found to be slightly advanced in incubation. 



This Fan tail is very tame, and fond of frequenting the 

 vicinity of dw^ellings, where it will often enter the kitchen and 

 capture flies from the walls. 



On the 11th October, I saw a pair of birds feeding two young 

 ones, fully fledged, and able to fly. 



The nest and eggs are here described for the first time. 



Nest, somewhat similar to that of Rhijndura albiscapa, wine- 

 glass shaped, without " foot," but with a very rudimentary " stem '' 

 or tail, composed of decayed wood, fibre from the sheaths of the 

 Kentia palm-fronds, and fine grass, outwardly matted and bount^ 

 together with spiders' w^ebs, lined w^th fine grass; placed on a 

 horizontal or forked twig, from 3 to 15 feet from the ground, in 

 the scrubby thickets. Dimensions: 2 inches in width by 3 inches 

 (including tail) in depth; egg-cavity, 1| inches in width by 1 inch 

 in depth. 



