CllLAMYDODUKA. 



51 



Mr. James F. l"iekt eventually succeeded in hndiii',' a nest with egt,'s durinj,' the first week 

 in February, 1899, near Alice Springs Telegraph Station. It was similar to the one described 

 above by Mr. Cowle, but was built in a low bush, and contained two eggs. One egg was sent to 

 Mr. Keartland, and by him kindly lent to me for description. This egg, the only one I have seen 

 belonging to this species, is elongate-oval in form, of a faint greenish-grey ground colour, with 

 the usual lahrvinthine net-work of zig-zag wavy hair and thread-like loop-lines, scrolls, and 

 figures, crossing and re-crossing each other, so characteristic of typical eggs of the Chlamydodcva:. 

 In tliis specimen there are but very few underlying markings, nearly all of them bein^ well 

 defined, and appearing as if they liad been placed on the shell with a pen dipped into different 

 shades of umber-brown and violet-grey, the former colour predominating and being more thickly 

 disposed towards the thinner end, where in some places the lines are confluent and form broad 

 irregular-shaped patches, and short wa\y streaks. The shell is close-grained and its surface 

 smooth and lustreless: — Length 1-56 x 1-02 inches. In shape, size, colour, and disposition of its 

 markings, it cannot be distinguished from fairly typical eggs of its near ally C. macidata. This 

 egg is represented on Plate B. II., Figure 7. 



Chlamydodera nuchalis. 



GREAT BOWER-BIRD. 

 Ptilonorhynchus nuchalis, Jard. k Selby, III. Orn., Vol. 11., pi. 103 (1830). 

 Chlamydera nuchalis, Gould, Bds. Austr., fob. Vol. IV., pi. 9 (1848). 



Chlamydodera nuchalis, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. 1., p. -118 (1865); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. 

 Brit. Mus., Vol. VI., p. 391 (I88I). 



Adult male— &'«n«ra/ colour above dark brown: the feathers uf the back, scapulars, rump, 

 and upper tail coverts broadly margined u-ith ashy-broirii, and those of the mantle gradually passing 

 into dull ashy-brown at the tips; upper wing coverts like the back; primaries and secondaries dark brown, 

 externally edged, and- all but the outer series of the primaries' tipjied irith ashy-white: head and hind 

 neck uniform ashy-brown : on the nape a band of rose-lilac plumgi, the feathers surrounding it 

 being tipped irith silvery-ivhite : sides of the head, neck, and throat, ashy-brown: remainder of the 

 under surface ashy-brown, with a slightly creamy tinge, which is more diitinct on the centre oj the 

 abdomen; tinder tail coverts dull creamy-iahite, with narrow dusky-bro'vn cross-bars : bill blackish- 

 brown; legs and feet dark brown tinged x'ith olive : iris brown. Total length 14 inches, wing 7, 

 tail o '6, bill 1- 15, tarsus I'S. 



Adult female— ^imikr in plumage to the adult male, but ivithout any rose-lilac band on the 

 nape, whic/i is nsliy-broirn like the head. 



J)istrihntio7i.—XoYtUem Territory of Soutli .\ustralia. North-western .Australia. 

 /T^Hl-: (ireat Bower-bird was originally described and figured by Jardine and Selby in 

 J- their " Illustrations of Ornithology," as Ptilonorhynchus nmhnlis, but as in other Australian 

 species described and figured by those gentlemen on the two preceding plates, no reference is 

 made to the part of the continent in which the types were obtained. Dr. Ramsay, in his " Tabular 

 List of Australian Birds," states:—" The type of Chlamydodera nmhnlis was first found m North- 

 western Australia, probably during Leichhardt's E.xpedition, by Oilbert; or by Elsey near 

 Port Essington." Leichhardt's overland expedition, however, which Gilbert accompanied, 

 and where he met his death, did not start from Brisbane until 1844, and this species was well 

 known to Mr. Elsey, who was surgeon and naturalist to Mr. A. C. Gregory's North Australian 

 Expedition in 1856. Writing to the late Mr. Gould from the dep6t at the Victoria River, in 

 June, 1856, he states:— "I met with two or three nests ;bowersl of the Bower-bird, C. nuchalis. 



