GEOBASILEUS. 



287 



it flew out of my liand, but I caught it and returned it to the nest. Contrary to the usual rule, 

 the nestlings are brighter and richer in colour than the adults. On passing the tree next 

 day, or twenty-one days since the young were hatched, they were still in the nest, but on the 

 following day the nest was empty. 



I ha\e taken both eggs and young of the Rufous-tailed Bronze Cuckoo (Lamprococcyx 

 hasalis) from the nests of this species, and have seen several sets each containing an egg of the 

 Fan-tailed Cuckoo (Cacomautis flahdUfflrmis). One of the latter species, nearly fledged, was so 

 large that it was with difficulty that 1 was able to withdraw it through the small aperture in the 

 tree-trunk forming the entrance to the nest. 1 found an egg of Lamprococcyx hasalis, in the 

 nest figured on this page, a fortnight after the young Buff-rumped Thorn-bills had left it. 



There is a variation in the 

 depth of colour in examples 

 of Geohasilens reguloidcs obtained 

 from different parts of the con- 

 tinent. Specimens collected by 

 Mr. George Masters at Gayndah, 

 on the Burnett River, Queens- 

 land, in August, 1878, have only 

 ,1 slight ochraceous tinge to the 

 \ellow rump and upper tail- 

 . overts; and the breast, flanks, 

 and abdomen are pale yellow. 



Examples collected by Mr. 

 I':dwin Ashby at Upper Sturt, 

 Woodside, and Callington, in 

 the hills south-east of Adelaide, 

 and others also, received on 

 loan from the Trustees of the 

 South Australian Museum, are 

 much darker than the New 

 South Wales specimens. They 

 may be distinguished from 

 typical examples of Geohasilens 

 reguloidcs by the richer and 

 deeper ochraceous-buff rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, basal portion 

 and tips of tail feathers ; and in 

 two specimens the more distinct 

 Should it be necessary to dis- 



NEST OF BUFF-RUMPED THORN- BILL. 



rufous foreiiead and deeper ochraceous-buft under surface, 

 tinguish the latter darker race, 1 would suggest the name of Geohasihus australis. With the 

 above specimens, Mr. A. Zietz, the Assistant Director of the South Australian Museum, 

 writes me as follows:— "Gould states "Geohasilens reguloidcs is extremely common in South 

 Australia, where I observed it in every part of the country I visited"; but the birds I am 

 sending you are not common. I have tried for the past twelve years to obtain specimens, 

 and have only succeeded in getting two. Mr. Ashby is, however, sending you three additional 

 skins. G. reguloidcs is either very uncommon, or Gould must have mistaken G. chrysorrhous 

 for it, which is found nearlv exerywhere about prickly acacia hedges, as both birds bear 

 some superficial resemblance to each other as they fly; otherwise G. reguloidcs has entirely 

 disappeared from this district." 



