64 PTILIISORIIYNCHID.E. 



The nests are very roughly formed open structures, built throughout of twigs, averaging 

 from about three to six inches in length, without anv other linint;. < )ne 1 took the measurement 

 of, was eight inches in external diameter bv five inches in depth : internally tour inches in 

 diameter by two inches in depth. This nest was built in the fork of a tree, fifteen feet from the 

 ground. The tree had a bushy top, which was about two feet above the nest ; and underneath 

 the structure was a lot of dead branches, making the nest hardlv discernible. 1 might not 

 have noticed it. only that I saw a bird tiy from that direction when I w^as about one hundred 

 yards off the tree. Other nests were built in mistletoes, thick bushv branches, and in similar 

 places where they could be concealed. The nests were all built in small trees in ridgy country 

 at an height varying from eight to twenty feet from the ground. The birds always left the 

 nests long before I could approach them, and would not return imtil 1 was out of sight. I 

 never found more than one egg in a nest, and never found a nest near ;i bower." 



.\n egg of this species, taken by Mr. E. Olive, on the i<ith October, 1898, near the 

 Katherine River, an affluent of the Daly River, in the Northern Territory of South .\ustrali;i, 

 has been kindly lent me by Dr. Charles Ryan, of Melbourne. It is in form a swollen o\al, the 

 shell being close-grained and its surface slightly lustrous, and is of a ))ale greenish-grey ground 

 colour, uniformly marked with irregular lines, streaks, and dashes of umber-brown, which 

 coalesce in some places, forming confluent patches, with which are intermingled a few prominent 

 curved, zig-zag, and fine blackish hair-lines and similar distinct purplish-black underlying 

 markings predominating chiefly on the larger end: — Length i-()x i-2 inches. This specimen 

 is represented on Plate B. II., Figure .3. Another egg, taken by Mr. ()li\e, in the collection of 

 Dr. Charles Snowball, of Melbourne, is more elongate in form, and the linear markings are 

 much darker. 



The egg previously referred to, taken by Mr. K. J. Harris in Xorth-western .Vustralia, and 

 kindly lent me for description by Mr. Keartland, is elongate oval in form, and of a pale 

 greenish-grey ground colour, which is covered with a labyrinth of bold and well defined wavy 

 and zig-zag linear markings, scrolls, and hair-lines ol (larl< uiiihcr intermingled with a few 

 broader underlying wavy streaks and lines of dull inky-grey, the markings predominating 

 slightly on the larger end, and forming in some places an irregular shaped dark spot or blotch: — 

 Length i-68xi-ii inches. 



I have now before me the eggs of five species of Chlamydodcrir. In general character of 

 the disposition and colour of the markings the eggs of all are alike, and vary chiefly in size, 

 C. maculata, C. gnltata, and C. cci'vinivcntris, being indistinguishable from one another. The 

 eggs of the larger north-western and north-eastern forms, C. iniclialis and C. oricntalis, as might 

 be expected, also closely resemble each other. 



Young birds are paler than the adults, and have smaller white, instead of ashy-brown tips 

 to the feathers of the upper parts ; the scapulars and secondaries have also a subterminal spot 

 of white as well as a white tip, and the centre of the breast and the abdomen ha\e indistinct 

 dusky-brown cross-bars. 



For an opportunity of figuring the bower of this species I am indebted to Dr. A. M. 

 House, who at the loss of much time took the photograph from which it is reproduced and 

 sent it to Mr. Keartland, with the following notes : — " I am sending you a photograph of the 

 bower of Chlamydodcra nuchalis. I went one hundred miles up the country to get it, and found 

 this one at the foot of the Barrier Range, north of the Fitzroy River, North-western Australia. 

 It is right up under the shadow of the rocks, and the photograph was taken without cutting 

 away anything. There was a fine heap of odds and ends at each end, the largest collection I 

 have ev-er seen. You will notice that there are snail shells and bones showing, and inside the 

 bower was a large collection of round hard seeds of a dark green colour, about the size of 

 marbles, with one or two just outside at the entrance." 



