278 TIMKLIID.E. 



As with the nests of other species of this genus, the rounded spout-like or hooded entrance 

 to the structure is larger when it contains young than when the eggs are first deposited. 



The eggs are usually three in number for a sitting, elongate-o\al in form, the shell 

 being close-grained, smooth, and lustreless. They vary in ground colour from a pinkish-white 

 to a pale creamv-buff, and are more or less distinctly zoned on the larger end with minute 

 freckles or small irregular-shaped dots and streaks, varying from pinkish-red to dull chestnut 

 and brownish-red, and sparingly marked with the same colour over the remainder of the shell. 

 Typically the eggs of this species may be distinguished from those of any other of the genus by 

 their elongated form and the markings being congregated principally in the form of a distinct 

 zone on the larger end. Some eggs are remarkably long, and compressed at the smaller end. 

 A set of two of this type, taken by me at Trafalgar, South Gippsland, \'ictoria, in September, 

 1883, measures as follows:— Length (A) 075 x 0-47 inches; (B) 073 x 0-47 inches. An egg of 

 the Kufous-tailed Bronze Cuckoo (Lamprococcyx basalisj was also deposited in the same nest. 

 A set of three, which I took at Springwood, on the Blue Mountains, in September, 1895, 

 measures: — (A) o-66 x 0-48 inches; (B) o-68 x 0-49 inches; (C) o-66 x 0-48 inches. 



Fledgelings resemble the adults, but they are slightly duller in colour and the crown of the 

 head is less distinctly streaked. 



The breeding season commences in July, and continues until the end of December, during 

 which time two or more broods are reared. At Koseville I saw a half-built nest which the 

 birds were engaged in constructing in a low gum sapling on the 28th July, 1898. During the 

 following month, four nests that I examined in the district contained newly hatched young. 



Near Dalveen, on the highlands of the Darling Downs, Southern Queensland, Dr. A. M. 

 Morgan and his brother, Mr. E. R. Morgan, found three nests of this species during September, 

 1903. All were built in the drooping leafy twigs of a species of Angophora, at a height of 

 about twenty feet from the ground. One contained two fresh eggs, another three eggs heavily 

 incubated; and the third, on which the bird was sitting, was built in so inaccessible a position 

 that it could not be closely examined. 



The eggs of the Bronze Cuckoo (Lamprococcyx plagosus) and those of the Kufous-tailed 

 Bronze Cuckoo (L. hasalis) are often deposited in the nests of this species. 



Acanthiza mastersi. 



MASTERS' THORN-BILL. 

 Acanthiza mastersi, North, Agric. Gaz. N.8AV., Vol. XIl., p. 142.") (1901). 



Acanthiza inornata, (note), Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus, Vol. VIL, p. ■2'X^ (188:3); North, Proc. 

 Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 2nd ser., Vol. II., p. 406 (1887). 



Adult male — General colour above dark brown, slightly tinged tvilh olive ; upper wing-coverts 

 like the back, the larger series with indistinct dusky centres; quills dark brown externally washed 

 with olive, paler on the edges of the outer primaries; rump and upper tail-coverts clear olive-brown ; 

 base of the tail feathers dull reddish-brown margined with olive, the apical portion broivn crossed 

 with a distinct subterminal blackish band which is almost lost on the central pair; tips of the 

 inner webs of the lateral feathers paler and inclining to buffy-brown; forehead dark broimi, with 

 pale brown edges to the feathers, giving this part a scaly appearance; ear-coverts fulvous-brown, ivith 

 indistinct paler shaft-lines; chin, cheeks, sides of the neck and all the under surface pale fulvous; the 

 feathers on the abdomen, fanks, and under tail-coverts slightly darker and indistinctly tinged with 

 olive; bill dark brown; legs and feet dark broivn. Total length 3-5 inches, wing 1-85, tail IS, bill 

 0-S8, tarsus 0-7. 



Adult female — Similar in pliiinage to the male. 



Distribution. — Western Australia. 



