BY E. P. RAMSAY, F.R.S.E., M.R.I.A., &C. 1149 



SlTELLA TENUIROSTRIS, Gould, 



This is a somewhat doubtful species, and Dr. Gadow, who has 

 presumedly examined the type from Mr. Gould's collection, has 

 made it still more doubtful by placing it as identical with Sittella 

 pileata; but on reference to Mr. Gould's Handbook, Vol. I. p. 610. 

 it will be seen that that author considered the bird a variety of 

 S. chry softer a. 



As I have specimens agreeing very well with Mr. Gould's 

 description, from the interior provinces, obtained by Mr. James 

 Ramsay, I prefer to consider it more nearly allied to 5. chrysoptera 

 than to any other. The length of the bill is 0-7 inch. The nest 

 is a very beautiful structure placed between the upright forks of 

 often a dead branch ; it is very deep, open above, the edges sharp 

 not rounded, and composed of fine shreds of bark, lichens and 

 cobweb, the outside felted or " shingled " with small scales of bark 

 fastened on with cobwebs, and made to so resemble the sides of the 

 forked branch between which it is placed, as to be most difficult of 

 detection ; the interior is usually lined with "mouse-eared" lichen, 

 and the colour of the eggs closely resembles that of the lichen itself. 

 The eggs are 3, seldom 4 in number, of a delicate greenish white, 

 with dots and confluent irregular markings of slaty-lilac, and slate- 

 black, the lilac freckles appearing beneath the shell; in some forming 

 a zone of larger spots near the thicker end, in others the spots are 

 nearly evenly dispersed over the whole surface. Length (A) 

 0-63x0-55; (B) 0-68x0-55; (C) 0-66x0-53; (D) 062x0 52 

 inch. 



Climacteris erythrops, Gould. 



I am indebted to Mr. K. H. Bennett, of Mossgiel, for a fine set 

 of the eggs of this species, the first I had seen ; they closely 

 resemble some of the varieties of those of Ptenoedus rufescens, 

 but have a climacterine look about them, and a smooth shell. The 

 ground-colour, apparently white, is obscured with evenly dispersed 

 dots and freckles of a rich red, which, occasionally confluent, form 

 elongated spots here and there; some have a zone formed by 



