PSOPIIODES. 



339 



The nest here figured, I found wlien it Wcas about half built, on the 7th September, 1898, 

 in some undergrowth a foot from the ground, in a gully at Chatswood. Three days later it 

 was lined with finer materials, and on the 14th September it contained two fresh eggs. It is 

 irregularly formed of long thin twigs; the inside, which is cup-shaped, being lined with the 

 thin wiry dried leaves of Casuarina siihevosa, and a small quantity of liorse-hair. Externally it 

 averages six inches and a half in diameter by two inches and a half in depth, and the inner 

 cup two inches and three-quarters in diameter by one inch and a half in depth. I found 

 another nest of the same pair of birds on the 3rd October following. It was built near the 

 top of a small turpentine, and was about ten feet from the ground. 



NEST AND EGGS OF WHIP-BIRD. 



The breeding season of this species usually commences about the middle of July, and 

 continues until the end of January, but nests with eggs are more common in September and 

 October. I have tound nests, however, containing fresh eggs as early as the 6th July and as 

 late as the 22nd December. If successful in rearing their young, the nest of the same pair of 

 birds may be found a few feet away from the old one, either for the second brood, or again in 

 the following season. 



A smaller race of Psophodes crepitans inhabits the Bellenden Ker Range of North-eastern 

 Queensland, which I have characterised under the name of Psophodes lateralis:'-' Specimens 

 from this part of Queensland may be distinguished from P. crepitans in having the wings longer, 

 the tail shorter, and the outermost feathers of the latter tipped with pale brown instead of 

 white. An average specimen measures 9-8 inches, wing 3'95, tail 5, bill 0-85, tarsus i*2. 

 Mr. R. Grant, who obtained several of the specimens in the Australian Museum Collection, 

 informs me that he could not detect any difference in the note of this bird, neither is there 

 any difference to be found in the colour and size of their eggs from those of the typical 

 species. 



* Rec. .■\ustr. Mus., Vol. iii., p. 13 (1897). 



