inilPIIlURA. 



129 



November, I disturbed the female while sitting on her egg and an egg of the Square-tailed 

 Cuckoo, the latter being the larger of the two eggs figured. Both eggs were partially incubated, 

 and she was very reluctant to leave them. The cup-like cavity of this nest is slightly shallower, 

 and the tail-like appendage below the structure longer than usual. Externally it measures five 

 inches and a (]uarter in length, by two inches and a quarter in diameter; and the inner cup 

 one inch and three-quarters in diameter by seven-eighths of an inch in depth. The ragged 

 end of the lower part of the structure consists principally of long chips of soft decaying wood, 

 some of them measuring one inch and a half in length by nearly a quarter of an inch in width. 



The eggs are two in number for a sitting, and vary in form from oval to rounded oval, 

 some specimens being rather pointed at the smaller end; the shell is close-grained, and its 



surface smooth and slightly lustrous. They 

 vary in ground colour from a very pale cream 

 (3r yellowish-white, to a rich cream, and are 

 usually minutely dotted and spotted on the 

 larger end with yellowish-brown, rich umber- 

 brown, or dull reddish-brown, intermingled, as 

 a rule, with a few small underlying spots of dull 

 bluish-grey, and there forming a well-defined 

 zone. In some specimens there are no under- 

 lying markings, and the spots are evenly dis- 

 tributed around the larger end of the shell; 

 others have there a yellowish-brown band, 

 which is minutely dotted and spotted with 

 richer shades of brown. In most specimens 

 the smaller end is entirely devoid of markings, 

 ov has only a few widely distributed spots. A 

 set of two, taken on the igth September, 1897, 

 in the Richmond River District, measures as 

 follows: — Length (A) 0-65 x 0-51 inches; (B) 

 0-62 X o'5i inches. A set of two, taken at 

 Bayswater, Mctoria, measures: — (A) 0-65 x 

 0-49 inches; (B) o-68 x 0-49 inches. Two 

 eggs, taken at Ourimbah from different nests, 

 measure: — (A) 07 x 0-53 inches; (B) 072 x 

 o"49 inches. 



Young birds resemble the adults, but 

 have the upper portion of the back, scapulars, 

 and upper wing-coverts strongly washed with 

 orange-rufous; forehead, a line above the eye 

 extending on to the sides of the nape, pale orange-rufous; fore-neck dull ashy-brown; chin and 

 remainder of the under surface dull brownish-white, washed with pale rufous, the feathers on 

 the lower throat having blackish-brown centres; sides of the body and under tail-coverts fawn 

 colour, ^^'ing 27 inches. 



In Southern Queensland and the northern coastal brushes of New South Wales, nests with 

 eggs have been found early in September, and generally throughout October and November. 

 About the mou,ntainous gullies a little distance to the north and south of Sydney, November 

 and the three following months constitute the usual breeding season. On the Blue Mountains, 

 nests have been found with eggs early in November, and as late as the end of January. 

 It is evident that two or more broods are reared during the season, for at Ourimbah, on 



NEST OF RUFOUS FRONTED FANT.\IL. 



