MALURUS. 221 



than usual, but not enough to conceal the eggs from view when looking into it. I flushed the 

 female from it when I was about a yard away, and found she had been sitting on three of 

 her own eggs, also on one of Lcimprococcyx hasalis. The male exhibited the most concern 

 about the welfare of the nest and its contents. He came within eighteen inches of my hand, 

 holding in his bill a common house-ily; with head and tail lowered he ran sideways up and 

 down a coarse grass stalk while I was removing the eggs. The eggs were of the usual reddish- 

 white ground colour before being blown, and incubation had commenced in all of them, 

 including the Rufous-tailed Bronze Cuckoo's. One egg of Mnhtriis laiiihnil was entirely devoid 

 of markings. I saw the female of this pair of birds building again in some long grass near my 

 house, on the 25th October, a thin outline only of the nest at that time being formed. On the 

 6th November it was completed, and contained two eggs, both birds being n^ar the nest. 

 Two days later there were three eggs of Lambert's Superb Warbler and one of Laiitpvococcyx 

 hasalis. Cuckoos were unusually numerous that season, and on the same day in an adjoining 

 paddock I saw a young Lamprococcyx hasalis being fed by a female Lambert's Warbler. 



At IMiddle Harbour, on the 27th October, 1902, I watched for some time a pair of these 

 birds ; the female was making a tremulous motion of the wings which led me at first to believe 

 it was a young one. Afterwards I found the nest, about half built, among grass and sheltered 

 with a few low herbaceous plants. On the 8th November I flushed the female from it while 

 sitting on three of her eggs, also an egg of the Kufous-tailed Ikonze Cuckoo. While I was at 

 the nest, the female a few yards away, with drooping head and tail, ran sideways up and down 

 a thin reed. This nest, of the usual form, was entirely constructed of dead grey strips of bark 

 and a few egg-bags of spiders, being lined inside with a thick layer of red downy tufts oi Banksia 

 cones; and on the top of that, and on which the eggs were deposited, a small quantity of soft 

 white inner bark of a tree. It measured externally five inches in height, three inches in 

 diameter, and across the entrance one inch and a half. The eggs in this nest were not visible 

 without raising a slight hood which protected the entrance, and one egg of this set was entirely 

 devoid of markings. 



On the same day I found another nest of this species, which 1 had previously tried for some 

 time to locate. It was most artfully concealed, about a foot below the level of the surroundmg 

 paddock, in the side of a narrow deep drain, overgrown with grass and bracken ferns, and 

 contained a young Rufous-tailed Bronze Cuckoo, nearly fledged. Below the nest, in the bottom 

 of the drain, I found an egg of Malurus lamhcrti in an advanced stage of incubation. Both male 

 and female came close to me with insects in their bills for the young Cuckoo, the former as 

 usual betraying the most concern at my presence, and more especially when I took the young 

 bird out of the nest to examine it. 



The eggs are usually four, sometimes only three in number for a sitting, oval or elongate 

 oval in form, the shell being close-grained, smooth, and almost lustreless. When fresh they 

 are of fleshy or reddish-white ground colour, which changes to nearly pure white when emptied 

 of their contents; this is sprinkled over with dots, spots, and occasionally blotches of pale red, 

 pinkish-red, or dull chestnut-red, the markings as a rule being confined to the thicker end, 

 where they not infrequently form a well defined cap or zone. Some specimens have the 

 markings small and sparingly distributed over the entire shell and often an egg of this type is 

 found in a set in which the others are heavily blotched or distinctly zoned. A set of three, 

 taken at Middle Harbour on the 20th September, 1899, measures as follows:— Length (A) 

 o-66x 0-5 inches; (B) o-66 x 0-5 inches; (C) 0-69 x 0-5 inches. A set of four, taken at Rose- 

 ville on the 27th September, 1900, measures:— (A) 0-65 x 0-5 inches; (B) 0-64 x 0-49 inches; 

 (C) 0-63 X 0-49 inches; (D) 0-64 x 0-5 inches. A set of three, taken at Roseville on the 8th 

 November, 1902, and which also contained an egg of Lamprococcyx hasalis, measures:— (A) 

 0-64 X 0-5 inches; (B) 0-64 x 0-49 inches; (C) 0-64 x 0-49 inches. 



