SISURA. 135 



yellowish-brown, ashy-grey, and bluish-black, the latter colour appearing as if beneath the 

 surface. In some specimens the zone is irregularly formed of indistinct yellowish-brown fleecy 

 markings, intermingled with irregular shaped clouded spots and blotches of dull inky-grey, 

 minute dots of the same hues being sparingly distributed over the remainder of the shell; in 

 others they are more uniformly dotted, spotted, or blotched, but as a rule they predominate in 

 the form of a zone towards the larger end. Among rare varieties, I have a set of three eggs 

 which are pure white, with a well defined band of blackish-brown, yellowish-brown, and inky- 

 grey spots and small lilotches around the larger end of the shell. Another set has a pale 

 yellowish ground colour, with a few small underlying spots of bluish-grey on the larger end, 

 and a dark creamy-brown cap on the smaller end, which is sparingly dotted and spotted with 

 blackish-brown. I have also taken specimens which have only a large coalesced patch of 

 underlying inky-grey markings on one side of the shell. A set of three measures :— Length (A) 

 0-8 X 0-56 inches; (B) o-8 x o-6 inches; (C) o-8ixo-59 inches. A set of four measures:— 

 (A) 0-84 X 0-63 inches; (B) 0-84 x 0-62 inches; (C) 0-84 x 0-62 inches; (D) 0-84 x 0-63 inches. 

 A small-sized set of three measures;— (A) 07 x 0-58 inches; (B) 0-69 x 0-57 inches; (C) 076 x 

 0-58 inches. 



In a set of three, taken by Mr. G. A. Keartland in North-western Australia, the eggs are oval 

 in form and of a cream-bufl' ground colour, with a band of small dull chestnut-red spots on the 

 thicker end, intermmgled with underlying markings of pale bluish-grey. Length: — (A) 073 x 

 0-56 inches; (B) 075 x 0-56 inches; (C) 073 x 0-58 inches. 



Nestlings have the upper surface and throat smoky black; a broad eyebrow white; chest, 

 breast, and abdomen dull white, passing into pale buffy-white on the vent and under tail-coverts. 

 Wing 2-8 inches. 



Young birds are slightly darker on the upper parts than the nestlings; the feathers of the 

 lower back and rump have indistinct buff tips; upper wing-coverts brown tipped with buff, 

 more largely on the greater series ; the white line above the eye is longer, and extends on to the 

 sides of the nape. Wing 3-9 inches. There are two beautiful albino specimens in the Australian 

 Museum collection, having the whole of the plumage of a pure snow-white; bill, legs, and 

 feet yellow. 



August and the four following months constitute the usual breeding season of this species 

 in Eastern and Southern Australia, but nests containing fresh eggs have been found near 

 Sydney on the 31st of December, and iii the Hamilton District, Victoria, on the 9th January. 



i3-erL"a.S SISXJIES.A., Vigors <i- Horsfield. 



Sisura inquieta. 



EESTLESS FLYCATCHEB. 

 Turdus inquietiis, Lath., Ind. Orn,, Suppl., p. xl., (1801). 

 Seisura inquieta, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol.. Vol. II,, pi. 87 (18-18); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. 



I., p. 246 (1865). 

 Sisura inquieta, Sharpe, Gat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. IV., p. 407 (1879). 



Adult yiki^Y.— General colour above black, ivith a greenish-grey gloss; upper tail-coverts blackish, 

 margined with glossy bluish-black ; lesser and median upper iving-coverts like the back : the greater 

 coverts, also the inner secondaries slightly glossed tvith bluish-black; quills dark brmvn ; tail blackish- 

 brown; head and sides 0/ the neck lustrous bluish-black; a triangular patch in front of the eye velvety- 

 black; all the under surface pure white; sides of the chest dull black; under tail-coverts white; bill 

 black; legs and feet black: iris dark brown. Total length in the flesh 8-3 inches, tving 4-2, tail SS, 

 bill O'S, tarsus 0-75. 



