120 CAMPOPHAGIDJE. 



two or three in number for a sitting, and are typically oval in form, the shell being close-grained 

 and its surface slightly lustrous. The ground colour varies from light green to rich bluish- 

 green, which is uniformly blotched or marked with short irregular shaped streaks of reddish or 

 chestnut-brown, in some specimens almost obscuring the ground colour, and in rare instances 

 confined almost entirely to the larger end, where a perfect zone or cap is formed. A set of two 

 measures:— Length (A) 0-87 x 0-65 inches; (B) o-86 x o-66 inches. A set of three:— (A) 0-82 x 

 inches; (B) 0-83 x 0-65 inches; (C) 0-82 x o-66 inches. 



A nestling taken at Roseville on the 8th December, 1900, I fed upon finely cut pieces of 

 raw meat, and it lived four days. It was extremely tame, and used to perch on my finger 

 while preening its feathers. The general colour above is brown, with fulvous white tips to all 

 the feathers; rump greyish-brown, all the feathers indistinctly barred with brown and lipped 

 with dull white; primaries, secondaries, and upper wing-coverts brown, broadly edged with 

 fawn, whitish at the tips; ear-coverts dull white; all the under surface dull white, the feathers 

 on the throat and chest having dusky brown centres. 



The young male has the head, hind-neck, and upper part of the back rich brown; feathers 

 of the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts grey with brownish tips; quills and upper wing- 

 coverts black, the latter broadly edged with ochraceous-buff; the secondaries externally margined, 

 and the primaries narrowly tipped with white; tail black, the two central feathers margined with 

 white on their apical portion, and the remainder tipped with white; under surface buffy- white, 

 darker on the sides of the body, which is crossed with indistinct dusky brown bars. In the semi- 

 adult male, the feathers on the crown of the head have central streaks of black, and those of the 

 mantle and upper portion of the back a large subterminal spot of black ; the ochraceous-buff 

 edges to the upper wing-coverts are much broader, there is a buffy-white stripe over the eye, 

 more distinct than in the adult female, and all the under surface is white, slightly tinged with 

 yellowish-buff, and crossed with almost invisible dusky-brown bars on the sides of the chest. 

 In the not quite adult male, the last trace of immaturity is exhibited in a few brown feathers 

 being intermingled with the glossy black ones on the hind-neck and upper portion of the back. 



The immature female is duller in colour than the adult, and has the primaries, secondaries, 

 and outer series of the greater wing-coverts broadly margined with pale buffy-white; tail- 

 feathers brown with buffy-white margins, and passing into buff on the outermost feather, which 

 has the outer web entirely buff except at the base. 



In the south-eastern portions of the continent, immature birds only are obtained or observed 

 after the main body of the migrants take their departure at the end of summer. Adult birds 

 only were met with at Moree in November, some of the males having very narrow edges and 

 tips of white to the secondaries; in others the primaries were externally edged and tipped with 

 white, and the outer webs and tips of the secondaries broadly margined with white. 



The breeding season in New South Wales usually commences at the end of September, 

 and continues until the end of January or early paXt of February. Near Sydney the eggs are 

 generally deposited during the first week in October, but I have found nests at Chatswood and 

 Roseville, containing eggs, in the beginning of December. Owing probably to the drought in 

 1901, these birds were not so numerous as usual, and with their young had all left the district 

 by the 31st December; the previous season they were noted as late as the 2ist February. 

 Dr. W. Macgillivray informs me that in the neighbourhood of Cloncurry, in Northern Queens- 

 land, they are very common, and nest everywhere immediately the wet season is over in 

 January and February. From Point Cloates, North-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter sends 

 me the following note: — "Lalage irkohr is a winter visitor to this district. I found nests 

 containing young on the 3rd August, 1899, and the 14th and 15th July, 1901." 



The figure represents an adult male. 



