260 SYLVIID.E. 



number, but frequently they are formed without any outer coverinc; of leaves. An average 

 nest measures four inches and a half in height, by two inches and a quarter in width, and 

 across the entrance one inch. The entrance varies much in size; in a nest in the Group 

 Collection of the Australian ]\Iuseum, taken by Mr. J. A. Thorpe at Randwick, on the 14th 

 October, 1895, and built in a tuft of fine rushes, the entrance, which is near the top, measures 

 two inches and a quarter in height by one inch in breadth; in another now before me it is 

 contracted by the leaves sewn on either side, and is barely over half an inch in width. The 

 nest is generally built among long grass, in a tuft of rushes, or in a plant sheltered by grass, and 

 frequently in cultivated crops, at a height varying from six inches to two feet from the ground. 

 In New South Wales and Queensland it is often constructed among blady-grass. Mr. Acland 

 Wansey brought three nests to tiie Australian Museum that he had found while mowing millet 

 at Dungog on the nth January, 1902. All had leaves worked on to the sides and tops of the 

 structures, two of them being attached to millet stems, and the third to tlie leafy top of a w-eed 

 in which it was built. They were about two feet from the ground, and contained respectively 

 three and four eggs, and a single egg, all being fresh. 



The nest figured on the preceding page, is one of two presented by Mr. A. F. B. Hull, 

 and taken by him at Curl Curl, near Manly, in February, 1903. The outer portion of the 

 structure, which is formed of plant-down and spiders' webs, is almost hidden by nine terminal 

 leaves, springing from long thin plant stalks, being carefully worked on to it by the birds. The 

 stitches made by the birds driving their bills around the margin of the leaves and forcing through 

 the spiders' webs, are clearly visible and may be seen in one of the leaves in tli(^ illustration. 

 This nest, which contained four fresh eggs, measures e.xternally nearly six inches in height by 

 two inches and three-quarters in width, and across the entrance one inch and a half. The 

 other nest has only five leaves worked on to the outer portion of it; both of them were con- 

 cealed in long rushes. 



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

 close-grained, smooth, and lustrous. Typically in ground colour they are of a rich greenish- 

 blue, which is sparingly freckled, spotted and blotched with different shades of purple, 

 particularly on the larger end, where in some specimens the markings are confluent and 

 form a small but well defined zone. A rare variety has a faint bluish-white ground colour, 

 with fine pepper-and-salt markings of faint purple thickly distributed over the shell. Others 

 have a few large rusty-brown blotches on the larger end only, while some I have seen were 

 entirely devoid of markings. As a rule the ground colour is of a rich shade of blue, and the 

 markings predominate or are entirely confined to the thicker end. Of a set of three, taken by 

 Mr. J. A. Thorpe at Randwick, two specimens are sparingly sprinkled with dots and spots on 

 the larger end, the other has the markings confined to a conspicuous zone on the smaller end. 

 A set of three eggs, taken at Dungog, New South Wales, measures as follows: — Length (A) 

 0'55 X 0-42 inches; (B) 0-54 x 0-43 inches; (C) 0'55 x 0-44 inches. A set of three, taken on 

 the Herbert River, Queensland, measures: — (A) o-6ixo'48 inches; (B) 0-62 x 0-5 inches; (C) 

 0-59 X 0-49 inches. A set of four, taken near the Daly River in the Northern Territory of 

 South Australia, measures: — (A) 0-58 x 0-44 inches; (B) o-6 x 0-45 inches; (C) 0-58 x 0-45 

 inches; (D) 0-56 x 0-44 mches. 



Young birds of both sexes resemble the winter plumage of the adult female, but are duller 

 in colour, the feathers on the hind-neck and rump alone showing a distinct wash of golden-buflf, 

 those on the under surface being dull white with a faint tinge of yellowish-buff on the neck and 

 golden-buff on the sides of the body. Wing i-6 inches. A young male procured by Mr. R. 

 Grant at Five Dock, on the 12th March, 1901, has the throat white and the remainder of the 

 under-surface very pale greenish-yellow, washed with buff on the sides of the body, which is 

 slightly darker on the lower flanks, \\ing rfi inches. 



