]02 PIUOXOIMD.E. 



I also took one from a cluster of vines, eight feet from the ground; and another, about ten feet 

 up, in a tree overhanging water." 



Mr. Frank Hislop informs me that in the Bloomfield River District, the nests are some- 

 times built in lawyer-vines, or on a scrub Paiulaiius, and generally within three or four feet from 

 the ground. 



The nests sent by Mr. Boyd are round, open, cup-shaped structures, formed externally of 



thin strips of bark, green and dried leaves, Ion.; wiry tendrils intermixed with spider-webs and 



cocoons; the inside being thinly lined with wiry rootlets. Both externally and interna'ly the 



leaves form the chief part of the structure. A very pretty nest is one formed principally of 



green leaves, moss, and the green silky covering of spider-cocoons, relieved only on the outside 



with snow-white egg-bags of spiders. It measures externally four inches and a half in 



diameter by three inches and three-quarters in depth; the inner cup three inches in diameter 



by two inches and three-quarters in depth, liggs two or three in number for a sitting, varying 



from elongate to rounded oval in form, and from a pure pearly-white to a dull brownish-white 



ground colour, which is freckled, spotted, or heavily blotched with reddish-brown, umber-brown, 



or olive-brown, intermingled with similar underlying markings of dark slaty or dull bluish-grey. 



In some specimens the markings are evenly distributed over the surface of the shell, but as a 



rule they predominate on the larger end, where they become confluent and form a cap or 



irregular zone. Occasionally an egg in a set will be devoid of markings, witli the exception of 



one or two large irregular-shaped umber or reddish-brown patches. A set taken on the 17th 



October, 1894, measures -.--Length (A) 0-97x075 inches; (B) 0-95x0-75 inches, .\nother set 



of three, from the Bloomfield River District, measures: — Length (A) 0-92x0-7 inches; (B) 



0-9 X 0-7 inches; (C) 0-94 x 0-72 inches. 



During many years' observation, Mr. J. A. lioyd found the lirst nest with eggs as early as 

 the 14th September, and the latest in the season 01 the 25th January. In the latter instance, 

 the eggs were heavily incubated. 



Collyriocincla ccrviniventris, separated by me, is an inland form of C. rufiaa^tcr, from whicli it 

 may be distinguished by its longer and thinner bill, and by its very much paler upper and 

 under surface. An adult male measures: — Total length 7-2 inches, wing 3-7, tail j-2, bill 0-87, 

 depth at nostril 0-25, tarsus 1-02. The eggs of this form are, as a rule, indistinguishable from 

 those of typical eggs of C. rufigastcy. Two, however, taken by the late Mr. George Barnard, 

 of the Dawson River, Queensland, and from whom the types of this race were obtained, 

 approach nearer in the dark olive-brown tint of their markings to a common variety of the 

 eggs of C. harmonica. They are, of course, much smaller than the eggs of the latter species, 

 measuring only: — Length (A) 1-03 x 0-74 inches; (B) i-oi x 0-74 inches. 



That the birds from the Dawson River are different from typical examples of C. rufigastey 

 is borne out by the fact that when the late Mr. George Barnard sent specimens to Dr. Ramsay 

 for identification, he determined them to be C. parvula, and recorded them as such from 

 that district in his "Tabular List of .\ustralian Birds." 



Typical sized eggs of Collyriocincla riifigasicr from the Clarence River, and of each race, 

 C. parvissima from Cape York and the Herbert River, and C. ccrviniventris from the Dawson 

 River, will be found figured on I'late 1!. 1\'. 



