222 MUSCICAPID.E. 



Young birds resemble the female, but are slightly browner on the under parts, and have 

 the tail feathers brown, and the lores and orbital ring duller in colour. At Roseville on 

 the 6th February, 1899, I observed a fully adult male and female, with three young ones in 

 brown attire. What I believed to be the same brood with their parents, I saw near the same 

 spot on the 3rd March following. Two of them were young males and had the tail dull blue 

 and the bill black; the adult female being distinguished from a young female by the deeper 

 rufous orbital ring and reddish-brown bill. 



The young male of this species, in its progress from youth to maturity, undergoes 

 the same series of changes as does the young males of Maliiriis snperbus. In some young 

 males the chestnut scapulars are the first indications of their assuming the adult livery; 

 in others it is e.xhibited in the turquoise-blue feathers on the head, or black feathers of 

 the throat. 



Nidification in the neighbourhood of Sydney usually commences in the beginning of 

 August, and is, so far as I have observed, performed only by the female. Neither does the 

 male assist in the task of incubation, but he shares with the female in feeding the young. The 

 eggs are generally deposited daily; in several nests, however, I have had under observation, 

 they were irregularly laid. At Chatswood I have known a female to sit so close as to be 

 captured while sitting on fresh eggs, but as a rule she leaves the nest silently on one approach- 

 ing it. On the 28th September, i8g8, at Roseville, I caught a young bird that had only 

 recently left the nest. The male evinced the greatest solicitude for the welfare of the young 

 bird, and ventured within a foot of my hand. With drooping wings and tail it assumed 

 the most droll attitudes, and tumbled over the ground in a seemingly helpless condition. 

 While holding the young bird in my hand, and before restoring it to liberty, it answered the 

 male and female who were calling with their usual note. The latter, however, would not come 

 nearer than four yards of me, while I could almost touch the male. 



In the coastal districts of Northern New South Wales, .\ugust and the four following 

 months, constitute the usual breeding season. My last record of finding a nest of this 

 species was on the i6th December, 1903. It was built near the ground under a small bush 

 close to a well frequented path leading to Middle Harbour. Both male and female were 

 engaged in feeding the only occupant of the nest, a j-oung Rufous-tailed Bronze Cuckoo 

 (Lamprococcyx basalts). 



Malurus assimilis. 



PURPLE-BACKED SUPERB WARBLER. 

 Malurus pulcherrimus (nee Gould), Sharps, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., V^ol. IV., p. 29+ (1879). 



Malurus lamberli (nee Vig. and Horsf.), Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 2nd ser., Vol. II., p. 



168 (1887); North, Rep. Horn Sci. Exped. Centr. Austr., Pt. II, Zool., p. 77 (1896); 



Keartl., Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A., Vol. XXII., p. 17-5 (1898). 

 Malurus assimilis, North, Vict. Nat., Vol. XVIII., p. 29 (1901). 



Adult male — Forehead, cromi and sides of the head jmrplish-blue, passing iiUo a rich cobalt 

 on the feathers around the eye and the ear-coverts ; sides of the neck and a collar on the hind-neck 

 velvety-black ; mantle and upper portion of the back purplish-blue; Icwer portion of the back and 

 rump velvety-black ; scapulars chestnut-red ; wings brown, the quills narrowly edged externally with 

 brotimislir-white ; tail dull blue, all but the two central feathers tipped with white; a triangular- 

 shaped marking iii front of the eye, the cheeks, throat, and upper portion of the breast deep black, the 

 feathers on the sides of the breast tipped with deep purplish-blue ; remainder of the under surface 

 dull tvhite, slightly tinged with pale brownish-buff on the flanks and under tail-coverts; thighs 



