COLLyRIOCINCLA. 'JT 



the Fitzroy River, kept flutterinf^ over the back of my dog for some minutes whilst I was 

 endeavouring to find the nest. Three young ones, just able to fly, were soon disturbed, and as 

 they went from bush to bush, with the dog chasing them, the parents closely- followed, snapping 

 their bills and feigning a broken leg or wing." 



The nest of this species is similarly constructed to that of other members of the genus, 

 being outwardly composed of strips of bark, fine pliant twigs, and dried grasses, and lined 

 inside with rootlets. It is usually built in the top of a hollow stump or fork of a tree. Eggs 

 three in number for a sitting, varyini,' in siiape from an elongate to thick oval, and of a pearly- 

 white ground colour, dotted, spotted, and blotched with olive, ricli umber, or blackish-brown, 

 and superimposed spots of dull bluish or blackish-grey, the markings predominating on the 

 larger end, and assuming the form of a zone, in others being uniformly distributed over the 

 surface of the shell. An a\erage specimen of the former type, from a set of two, taken by 

 the late Mr. T. H. Bowyer-Bower, at Derby, North-western Australia, in October, 1886, 

 measures; — Length i-i8 x 0-77 inches. Specimens of the latter type in the Macleaj' Museum 

 collection, obtained by the late Mr. Edward Spalding, near Port Darwin, in the Northern Territory 

 of South Australia, measure: — (A) 1-2 x o-8 inches; (B) ri8 x 0-78 inches. An egg of this species, 

 taken on the i8th October, 1898, by Air. E. Olive near the Katherine River, and kindly lent by 

 Dr. Charles Ryan, of Melbourne, is in form a thick oval, slightly compressed at the smaller end, 

 and of a glossy-white ground colour; uniformlv marked, except on the top of the larger end, 

 with dots, spots, and small blotches of olive-brown, intermingled with similar underlying 

 markings of dull blackish-grey. Length: — i-og x o-8i inches. This specimen is represented on 

 Plate B. IV., Figure 1 -5. 



Young birds have the sides of the head and all the under surface deeply tinged with fawn 

 colour; the primaries, secondaries, and upper wing-coverts externally edged with rufous; the 

 under wing-coverts a deep orange-buff; and the breast more broadly streaked with dark brown 

 than in the adult female. 



Like many other species inhabiting hot and arid districts, the breeding season of the 

 Brown Shrike-Thrush is probably influenced by an abundant rainfall. .\t Derby, North-western 

 Australia, the late i\Ir. T. H. Bowyer-Bower obtained fresh eggs in October; while near the 

 same locality, Mr. G. -\. Keartland observed fledgelings at the end of March. In North 

 Australia, Gilbert found a nest with eggs in February; and, as previously pointed out, Mr. E. 

 Olive took the eggs of this species near the Katherine River in October, 1898. 



Collvriocinda palltdirostris, described by Dr. Sharpe ■ from specimens obtained at Port 

 Essington and the Nicholson River, is, I belie\-e, the female or young male of this species. 



Collyriocincla parvula. 



LITTLE SURIKE-TURUSH. 



CoUuricincla parvula, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, ISI-i, p. 62; id., Bds. Austr., fob, Vol. II., pi. 78 

 (1848); id.. Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 22.-) (1865). 



Pinaro/estfs parvuhis, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. III., p. 296 (1877). 



Adult m.\lr — General colour abovn olive-brown; upper iving-coverls like the back, the greater 

 series IV ith/alvous tips ; primaries and secondaries olive-brown on their outer webs, brotvn on their 

 inner webs, except the innermost secondaries, which are of a uniform olive-brown: apical half of tJie 

 primaries externally edged with ashy-brown ; tail dull olive-brown; lores and a superciliary stripe 

 dull white; chin and throat dull while, passing into pale fulvous on the remainder of the under 

 surface and the under tail-coverts, the feathers of the fore-neck having narrow brown shaft-streaks ; 



* Cat. Bds. Brit. Mas., Vol. iii., p. 293 (1877). 



