GEOCICHLA. 



237 



There are eggs in the Australian Museum collection taken by Dr. Ramsay at Dobroyde, 

 from a nest built in a tea-tree, in July, i860. The nest and eggs of this species were 

 among the first I obtained in my early collecting days. In the tea-tree scrub near the 

 beach between Cheltenham and Frankston, in \'ictoria, we used to find many nests containing 

 eggs, some as early as the middle of July, but more plentiful in August, and on until the 

 end of September. In South Gippsland the usual breeding season did not commence until 

 September, and it continued until the middle of January. On tlie ibth September, 1893, at 

 Sassafras Gully, near Springwood, New South Wales, in company with the Hon. Dr. J. 

 Norton, M.L.C., we saw boys engaged in blowing two eggs of this species that they had 

 just taken from a nest in a tree on the creek side. These eggs were fresh, and well marked 

 specimens. On the i4tli October following, at Springwood, Dr. Norton took two partially 

 incubated eggs from a nest built in the thick fork of a i;um-tree at a height of twenty feet 

 from the ground. 



'Sir. Joseph Gabriel sent me a set of two eggs, taken by him at Bayswater, \'ictoria, on 

 the 22nd December, 1896; and later on, under date 30th October, 1898, supplied me with the 

 following interesting notes: — "At IMordialloc and the surrounding low-lying districts, the laying 

 season of Gcocichla lunulata is July to September. The nests are usually placed in the forks of 

 tea-trees (Melaleuca), and frequently old nests are re-lined, covered with moss, and used a 

 second time. In these districts three eggs invariably form a set. On the Dandenong Ranges 

 these birds have different habits. They are rather shy and build their nests on iVIusk-trees 

 (Aster argophylla), but more frequently on heads and side projections of Ferns (Cyatha dealhata). 

 There they never lay more than two eggs for a set, and their nesting-time is from September 

 to January. Two sets of eggs were taken on the 29th November, 1896, one set on the 22nd 

 December following, and one set on 19th October, 1898. Immediately below the hills, on the 

 flats, my friends found a nest with three young. It is strange that the breedmg time should be 

 so widely different on hill and flat, also the different number of eggs found in the two situations. 

 I thought at first that exceptionally dry seasons was the primary cause, but you will see that I 

 have taken (from the top of a fern) a few days since a set of two eggs which were perfectly 

 fresh, and we have had a fair amount of rainy weather this season." 



From the preceding remarks, and those quoted from Mr. Gabriel, it may be gathered that 

 the usual breeding season of the Mountain Thrush in south-eastern Australia, near the coast, is 

 from the beginning of July until the end of October, and on the mountain ranges from 

 September until the end of January or middle of February. Owing probably to the more 

 southerly position of Tasmania, the breeding season there, even near the coast, is much later 

 than on the continent. 



Young birds are duller in colour than the adults, and have the black crescentic tips to the 

 feathers of the upper and under surface much smaller; all the tail feathers are more or less 

 tipped with white, increasing in e.xtent on the outermost feather where it extends into a wedge- 

 shaped marking close to the shaft on the inner web. These white tips decrease in number and 

 size until they remain only on the outermost feathers. 



Geocichla heinii. 



HEINE'S MOUNTAIN THRUSH. 

 Oreocincla heineii, Cabanis, Mus. Hein., Theil I., p. G (ISoO). 

 Geocichla heinii, Seebobm, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. V., p. 157 (1881). 



Adult male — Like the adult male 0/ Geocichla lunulata, but having the general olive-brown 

 colour of the upper parts ivashed tvith rufescent-ochraceous, which is more pronounced on the lower 

 back, rump, and upper tail-coverts; the outer series of the median and greater wing-coverts have 



