SPHECOTUERES. °^ 



pairs similarly en-aged, one on the 7th, the other on the yth November. Both nests were about 

 half-built, and were placed near the extreme leafy ends of horizontal branches of the Rough-barked 

 Apple I Angoplwrci subvclutinn), at a height of seventy feet from the ground. On the i6th November, 

 from each of these nests, after cHmbing to the limb on which they were built, Mr. Clarence Savidge 

 successfully scooped a beautiful set of three fresh eggs; a difficult feat to perform owing to the 

 folia-e surrounding the nests, and a strong wind blowing at the time. The eggs were deposited 

 daily, and could be clearly seen from the ground. One of the females left the nest directly we 

 approached the tree, the other remained sitting until preparations were made to scoop the eggs. 

 It is the nest and eggs of the latter bird figured. Another pair made repeated swoops at the 

 rope as it was thrown over the branch on which the nest was built. 



Nidification, Mr. George Savidge informs me, sometimes begins as early as the middle of 

 October, and the nest is completed in about ten days. Nests with eggs, however, are more 

 frequently found during November and the following month. In some seasons he has observed 

 these birds building in Januarv, and has taken a set of fresh eggs as late as the 28th January, 1901. 



Sphecotheres flaviventris. 



YELLOW-BKEASTED FlCi-BIKU. 

 Sphecother.s jiavivenlris, CJould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 18+9, p. 1 11 ; id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., 

 p. 468 (186.5), id.. Bis. Austr., fol, SuppU pi 37 (1SG9) ; Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus.. 

 Vol. HI , p 22.5 (1877); SaUad., Orn. Pap. et Molucc, Pt. IF., p. 480 (1881). 

 \DUIT M K^A,-Genero.l colour above greeni.h-ydlorv ; upper rving-coverls like the back; primaries 

 black, eMernally edged roith ashy-grey; secondaries black, broadly n^argin.d with yellowish-green on 

 the outer >reb the innermost feathers yellowish-green on the outer web, black on the inner; tail black, 

 the lateral feathers tipped with white, rchich increases in extent on the outermost Jeather, the outer 

 web of the lateral feathers while except at the base ; crown of the head, nape, and earcoverts black; 

 throat, sides of the neck, and all the under surface bright yellow; sides of the chest yellowish-green; 

 centre ofthehtoer abdomen and under tail-coverts wlnte : bill black: legs and feet fesh colour; 

 bare space around the eye reddish-yellow; iris redd.sh-brown. Total length 10 inches, wmg 6, 

 tail J,:5, bill 0-9, tarsus 9. 



ADULT FEMALE-(?«««mZ colour above broken; feathers of the head light brown with darker brown 

 centres; rump and upper tail-coverts brown, washed with olive-yellow; quills and their coverts brown 

 allthejeathers narrowly edged with ashy-grey, the edges of the outer rvebs of the greater coverts and 

 outer secondaries distinctly tinged will, olive-yellow ; tail brown, the two central Jeathers and the 

 outer webs of the remainder zcashed with olive-green; sides of the neck, the throat and Jore-neck 

 browni^h-white, broadly streaked with brown; remainder of the under surface rchite tinged ivith 

 olire yellow, and conspicuously streaked with dark brown; centre of the lower abdomen white; under 

 taiUoverts white, narrowly streaked dorvn the centre with dark brown. Total length 1<> inches, 

 wing 6, tail4''>, bill 9, tarsus 0-9. 



Distribution.— ^oxihexn .Uistralia, Eastern Queensland, Ke Islands. 

 ATAHIS species was discovered at Cape York by the late Mr. John MacGilUvray, during 

 1 the stay there of H.M.S. 'Beagle,' while engaged in making a survey of the north- 

 eastern coast of Australia. It is abundantly distributed throughout the coastal districts of 

 North-eastern Queensland, from Cape York to the neighbourhood of the Herbert River. Mr. 

 I A.Thorpe and Mr. George Masters found it plentiftil at Cape York; and specimens were 

 also obtained there by members of the 'Challenger' Expedition in September, ib74- ^ the 

 "Report of the Voyage of the Alert," Dr. Sharpe records it from Thursday Island It is 

 common at Cooktown and the Bloomfield River District, where it has been found freely 



