SKRICOIiNIS. 



2&5 



favour most the 'Raspberry,' or 'Dead Finish Y.-lurcw nlianaj. One was placed in a thick 

 cotton-bush, and another, whicii I am sending you, was in a spht rotten mulga. The general 

 appearance of the nest, when built in bushes, is old, unkempt, and rough, like that of Powatos- 

 tomns ruhendus. All the nests I took during July and August, also of Xcroplula lauvpsis, which I 

 found breeding at the same time, had three eggs in." 



The nest sent by Mr. Cowle, and taken by him from a rotten mulga, is a long cylinder in 

 shape, with an enlarged entrance near the centre, and is constructed of fine shreds of bark, 

 dead grasses, and debris; the nesting cavity, which is very small, is lined with feathers. It 

 measures eight inches in length by three inches and a half in breadth, the inner portion of the 

 nest measuring three and a half inches in height by two inches and a half in diameter, and 

 across the entrance one inch and a half. As with the nests of Aphclncephala lauvpsis, the size 

 and shape would xary according to the position in which they are built, those placed in bushes 

 being, as a rule, more bulky structures than others formed in hollow branches. 



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

 close-grained, smooth, and slightly lustrous. In ground colour they vary from dull white to 

 buff and a warm brownish-white, which is thickly freckled and occasionally blotched with dull 

 reddish or faint umber-brown, in some specimens uniformly over the shell, in others entirely at 

 or predominating on the thicker end, where, intermingled with similar markings of dull violet- 

 grey, well defined zones are formed. A set taken by Mr. C. E. Cowle in April, 1898, measures 

 as follows :-Len-th (A) 0-65 x 0-49 inches; (B) 0-65 x 0-49 inches; (C) 0-63 x 0-5 inches. A 

 set taken at Erldunda, m the following July, measures:— (A) o'65 x 0-5 inches; (B) o-68 x 0-52 

 inches; (C) 0-67 x 0-52 inches. 



Mr. Cowle has usually noted this species nesting from the latter end of February to the 

 middle of August; but after hea\-y rains, he found them breeding freely in December, 1902, and 

 January, 1903. 



C^en-Q-S SEI^IOOIS3>TIS, Gould. 

 Sericornis citreogularis. 



YELLOW-THROATED SCEUB-WBEN. 

 Sericornis citreogularis, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1837, p. 133; id., Bds. Austr., fob, Vol. III., 

 pi. 46(1848); id., Haiidbk. Bds. Austr., Vol.1., p. 354(1865); Sliarpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. 

 Mus., VoL VIL, p. 302 (1883); id., Hand-1. Bds., Vok IV., p. •2'20 (1003). 

 Adult ualu— General colour above dull olive tinged u'ilh yelloiv, becoming slightly richer in 

 colotir on the rump and upper tail-coverts; lesser wing-coverts like the back, the median and greater 

 coverts blackish, margined ivith yellowish-olive; primary coverts black: quills blackish-brown, basal 

 portion of the median series 0/ the primaries externally edged with light olive-yelloiv, the outer webs 

 0/ the outermost secondaries, and both webs of the innermost series olive-brown shaded with yellow ; 

 tail feathers ruddy-brown, the central pair and outer rvebs of the remainder rich olive-brotvn ; crown 

 of the head olive-brown tinged with yellow; forehead, lores, and feathers above and below the eye 

 extending in a broad band beyond the ear-coverts black, bordered above with a narrow ivhite line over 

 the lores, and tvidening out into a broad light greenish-yellow streak above the ear-coverts; sides oj the 

 neck dark greenish-yellow; cheeks and throat yellow; fore-neck pale olive-broivn tvashed ivilh yellow; 

 centre of the breast and abdomen white washed with yellow; sides of the breast olive-brown; under 

 tail-coverts dull white: bill dark broirn : legs and feet fleshy-brown; iris yellowish-white. Total length 

 inthe^fiesh 5 S inches, wing ^7, tail 21, bill 0-55, tarsus 1-1. 



Adult pe.male— SimiZar to the male, bm the forehead is olive-brown like the crown, and the 

 broad patch extending from the lores above and below the eye on to the ear-coverts, instead of being 

 black, is dull olive-green with a dusky wash on the lores. 



Distributian. — Eastern Queensland, Eastern New South Wales. 



