MALURUS. 213 



Early in August, 1900, Dr. A. M. Morgan and Dr. .\. Chenery found it very abundant at 

 Oakden Hills about one hundred and five miles north-west of Port Augusta, South Australia. 

 The adult males had just obtained their full plumage, and although these birds were usually 

 seen in pairs, no nests were found. 



The nests of this species are formed throughout of soft dead grey grasses, intermingled 

 with silky-white and brown plant down, the latter material also being used as a lining for the 

 bottom of the nests. .\n average nest measures four inches and three-quarters in height by 

 three inches in breadth. Those found by Air. C. E. Cowle, at Illamurta, Central .\ustralia, 

 were built in low bushes, but one his black boy took was placed in a mulga, six feet from the 

 ground. Each of these nests contained four eggs. Mr. Cowle writes: — ''.Vll out Maliiri here, 

 the females of each species of which are indistinguishable from one another, generally build in 

 a salt-bush, tangled cane grass, or a dead acacia fallen close to the ground, and lay four eggs. 

 The breeding season commences in November, and lasts until the end of April." 



The eggs are usually four in number for a sitting, oval or rounded-oval in form, the shell 

 being close-grained, smooth, and lustreless. The ground colour, which varies from a dull to 

 clear white, is finely freckled, spotted, or blotched with different shades varying from a bright 

 red to dull reddish-brown. Some specimens have the markings small but very distinct and 

 evenly distributed over the surface of the shell; generally, however, they are more thickly 

 disposed on the larger end, where in some instances they form large coalesced patches, or a 

 more or less irregularly formed zone. Occasionally eggs are found which have the markings 

 rounded in form and of a rich reddish-black, and somewhat resembling in character and colour 

 the eggs of Ephthianuya unrifrons. A set of four, taken by Mr. C. E. Cowle, on the 14th 

 November, 1S95, at Illamurta, Central Australia, measures :— Length (.\) 0-63 x 0-48 inches; 

 (B) 0-62 X 0-48 inches; (C) 0-63 x 0-5 inches; (D) 0-64 x 0-49 inches. Another set of three, 

 taken in the same locality in March, 1896, and which also contained an egg of the Rufous-tailed 

 Bronze Cuckoo, measures:— (.\) 0-65 x 0-48 inches; (B) o'64 x 0-51 inches; (C) 0-64 x 0-5 inches. 

 A set of three, taken by Mr. James Ramsay at Tyndarie, New South Wales, in October, 1879, 

 measures as follows:— Length (\) 0-67 x 0-48 inches; (B) 0-67 x 0-48 inches; (C) o-66 x 0-48 

 inches. A set of two, taken in the same district, and which also contained an egg of the 

 Rufous-tailed Bronze Cuckoo (Lamprococcyx hasalis), measures: — (.\) 0-64 x 0-47 inches; (B) 

 0-65 X 0-46 inches. .\ set of three, taken by Mr. C. E. Cowle at Illamurta, Central .\ustralia, 

 and on which the male bird was captured while sitting, measures: — (x\) o-6 x 0-5 inches; (B) 

 0-63 X 0-48 inches; (C) 0-64 x 0-49 inches. .\n egg of the Rufous-tailed Bronze Cuckoo was 

 also deposited in the nest from which these eggs were taken. 



Young males may be distinguished by the much paler and silvery-blue shade of the 

 crown of the head, mantle, upper tail-coverts, and ear-coverts; and the mantle also is more 

 circumscribed. Wing i'92 inches. 



In Western New South Wales, October and the two following months constitute the usual 

 breeding season of this species. 



Malurus splendens. 



B.A.NDED SUPERB WARBLEK. 

 Traquet resplendissant, Quoy et Giiini., Voy. de I'Aslrol., Atlas, pi. 10, tig. 1. 

 Saxicola splendens, Quoy et Gaiiii., Voy. de I'Astrol , Tom. I , p. 197 (1830). 



Malurus splendens, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol , Vol. 111., pi. 21 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., 

 Vol. I., p. 32.3 (1865); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. .Mus , V^ol. IV., p. 289 (1879). 

 Adult male— General colour above rich lustrous cobalt, the fore part of the head distinctly 

 shaded ivilh turquoise-blue; lores, sides of crojvn and neck, and a broad nuchal collar black ; upper 



