16 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



bird, 2f. superba, but is much smaller and is usually placed between 

 the buttresses of trees, or amongst the thick undergrowth in which 

 this bird loves to dwell. A nest of this species now before me in 

 the Group Collection of the Australian Museum, taken from the 

 scrubs of the Richmond River in June 1890, (together with the 

 parent birds and the eggs,) is domed in form, the base and sides 

 of which are constructed of thick twigs about six inches in length, 

 and the nest proper which has a lateral entrance, entirely of 

 mosses, the whole structure with the exception of the opening 

 being covered and well concealed with dead leaves ; it measures 

 exteriorly from back to front of the base fourteen inches and 

 a-half, width nine inches and a-half, height at the centre of the 

 nest, seven inches, from front of the base to entrance of the nest 

 proper, seven inches ; the interior of the nest which is rounded 

 in form measures four inches in diameter. The eggs of this species 

 are two in number for a sitting and are pure white and vary from 

 an elongate oval to a compressed ellipse in form, the texture of 

 the shell being fine and slightly glossy. Two sets measure as 

 follows :— Length (A) M3 x 0-83 inch ; (B) M2 x 0-8 inch ; (0) 

 1-12 X 0-87 inch; (D) M6 x 0-86 inch. 



The coastal scrubs of New South Wales constitutes the principal 

 habitat of tliis species. 



Cacomantis inspeeatus, Gould. Square-tailed Brush-Cuckoo. 



Gould, Handbk. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 380, p. 619. 



Dr. George Hurst of Sydney, has taken at Newington on the 

 Parramatta River, during many years past, eggs of a Cuckoo 

 referable to this species, and which were usually obtained from 

 the nests of Rhipidura albiscapa; and I have also seen similar 

 eggs from the collections of Mr. John Waterhouse and Mr. Leslie 

 Oakes taken in the same locality. A few years ago Dr. Hurst 

 found one of the same Cuckoo's eggs at Newington in the nest of 

 Malurits cyaneus, and to which he drew attention in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, Vol. iii., 2nd 

 Series, p. 421, 1888 ; attributing it to this species. Early in 

 December 1891, Mr. S. Moore was successful in obtaining from a 

 tree on the banks of the Cook's River a similar Cuckoo's egg from 

 the nest of Ftilotis chrysojys, and on the 26th of the same month 

 in company with Dr. Hurst, two more Cuckoo's eggs were obtained 

 at Eastwood, both from the nests of Rhipidura albiscapa, and 

 which also contained the usual complement of eggs laid by this 

 bird for a sitting. All these Cuckoo's eggs were obtained within 

 a radius of ten miles of Sydney, and it is a matter of regret, that 

 the opportunity was not taken of placing tliem in nests convenient 

 for observation and hatching the young birds out, as was done by 

 Dr. Ramsay and his brothers at Dobroyde, with the eggs of C. 



