156 MUSCICAPID.B. 



the well-known nest of Falcuncidns frontatus. The nest is usually formed throughout oi Casuarina 

 leaves, and is thickly coated externally with bright green moss, the inside being sometimes 

 lined with fine black hair-like rootlets. An average cup-shaped nest measures externally 

 four inches in diameter by three inches and a half m height, the inner cup measuring two 

 inches and a half in diameter by one inch and a half in depth. A beautiful nest of this 

 species, found at Ourimbah on the 24th November, 1899, measures externally three inches 

 and a half in diameter by four inches and a half in height, the inner cup measuring two 

 inches and a half in diameter by one inch and a half in depth. It was built in and around 

 an upright fork, near the leafy top of a low tree, about fifteen feet from the ground, and the 

 female was sitting on two fresh eggs. Some nests are built on horizontal branches, where 

 several thin leafy twigs grow out at either side. This species is not particular in the kind of tree 

 selected as a nesting-site, but usually the nest is more or less sheltered or partially concealed 

 with leaves. I have seen them built at heights varying from three to thirty-five feet from the 

 ground. 



Of seven nests I found at Ourimbah during November, 1901, six were built in and around 

 upright forks, and only one on a horizontal branch. One very pretty nest was built on a leaning 

 branch of a Coachwood, growing through the frond of a l^angalow pahri on the edge of a creek. 

 From this nest Mr. D. Swift successfully scooped two incubated eggs. I'resh eggs were also 

 taken the same day from two more nests — one in a Sassafras, the other in a Maiden's Blush 

 tree. Large leaved trees are, as a rule, favoured by this species for nesting in. While sitting, 

 the black throat of the female shows very conspicuously over the side of the nest. When so 

 engaged, the male is generally perched in a tree close by, enli\ening his consort with his rich 

 and clear notes. 



The nest and set of three eggs figured, were taken by Mr. K. |. Ivtheridge on the 14th 

 November, 1897, in a deep mountain gully at Colo Vale. Externally the nest measures three 

 inches and a half in diameter by three inches in height; internally two inches and a quarter in 

 diameter by one inch and a half in depth. 



The eggs are usually two, rarely three in number for a sitting, and oval or elongate oval 

 in form, some specimens being compressed towards the smaller end, others somewliat sharply 

 pointed at each end; the shell is close-grained, smooth, and lustreless. They vary in ground 

 colour from pure white to a faint reddish-white, which is minutely dotted and spotted with 

 bright red, with which are sometimes intermingled a few underlying spots of dull reddish or 

 purplish-grey. Some specimens are uniformly marked all over, almost obscuring the ground 

 colour; others are more or less distinctly zoned on the larger end, and but sparingly marked on 

 the remainder of the shell. Of a set of two, taken by me at Ourimbah on the 25th November, 

 1899, one egg is pure white with a broad band of confluent rich red dots and spots on the 

 larger end; the other is of a faint reddish-white, minutely dusted and finely freckled all over 

 with purplish-red, the markings being more thickly disposed on one side, and where on the 

 larger end is a broad confluent patch of rich purplish-red. Length: — (.\) 0-97 x 0-67 inches; 

 (B) 0'93 X o'67 inches. A set of three in Mr. R. J. Etheridge's collection, taken at Colo Vale, 

 measures: — Length (A) 0'86 x 0-69 inches; (B) 0-9 x 0'69 inches; (C) 0*9 x 0-67 inches. 



This species is a late breeder, nests with fresh eggs being usually found in November and 

 December, and as late as the middle of January. 



Immature birds resemble the adults, but are destitute of the narrow ring of black feathers 

 round the eye, and the face and throat are grey like the head and neck. 



