^86 THE BIRDS OF LORD HOWE AND NORFOLK ISLANDS, 



watching the intruder. It is also very suspicious, and will desert 

 a nest either when building, with eggs, or even with young birds^ 

 if touched by a human hand. 



The nest is a large loosely built structure, open, shallow, cup- 

 shaped, outwardly of woven fibre from the sheaths of palm-fronds, 

 and dead leaves, lined with dry grasses, placed at the foot of a. 

 palm amid the dead fallen fronds, on top of a stump, or in a mass 

 of intergrown vines a few feet from the ground. 



Eggs, clutch two, inclining to elongated-oval in form, slightly 

 pointed at the thinner end, of a pale greenish-grey ground-colour, 

 with freckles, dots, and horizontal markings of reddish-brown 

 -dispersed over the entire surface of the shell; in some places a 

 few nearly obsolete blotche.s of purplish-grey appear. These eggs 

 vary considerably in size and shape, some being short rounded 

 ovals, and others long and pointed. The ground-colour varies 

 from a distinct green to pale greyish, and the markings from 

 bright red to dull purplish-red. 



Dimensions : 



(l)a,l-2L X 0-81; 6,1-22 x0-80{18th October, 1907). 



(2)a,l-07 X 0-78; 6,M0 x 0-80(18th November, 1908). 



(iN'orth)a,M5 x 077; b,l'l2 x 0-77. 



.51:1(M). 69.MERULA FULiGiNOSA Latham. 



Norfolk Island Ouzel; Guava Bird(N.I.). 



Merula poliocephala Gould, p. 5 2 8; Ramsay, p. 37; North, 'Nests 

 and Egg-s p. 411; Seebohm, Mon. Turdidje, ii., p.91(1902). 



,¥a6.— Norfolk Island. 



The Norfolk Island Ouzel differs from the Lord Howe Island 

 species in the colour of the head and neck, which are greyish in 

 the adult bird. In habits and general characteristics it closely 

 resembles J/, vinitincta. The nest is also similar in size, shape 

 and materials, but it is most frequently placed in a tree or shrub 

 at a height of from six to twenty feet from the ground. A 

 favourite position is amongst the matted thorny branches of the 

 lemon tree, which has run wild and is found all over the Island. 



