342 TIMELIID.E. 



a rather shy and wary bird, and would seldom be found but for its tinkling notes, which are 

 frequently heard as early as 3 a.m. and long after dark at night. On moonlight nights they 

 sing at any time. They are generally found in pairs, but it is remarkable how often a young 

 male, with a horn-coloured bill, is found apparently mated to an old female, and vice vei'sn. 

 They are very active on the ground and amongst the foliage of low scrub. Whether feeding 

 or perched they sing nearly all the time. They build a very neat saucer-shaped nest, nicely 

 lined with fine grass, in a low bush at from one to three feet from the ground. Sometimes 

 only one egg is laid, but last season Mr. Cowle sent me a set of three. 



Dr. \V. Macgillivray has sent me the following note from Broken Hill, in south-western 

 New South Wales: — "I have only seen one example of Spheiwstoma cristatum, a male, which I 

 shot from a stunted acacia on one of the many dry creeks amongst the ranges near here. Mr. 

 Wm. Gayer, a friend of mine, whilst travelling from Broken Hill with some sheep to his father's 

 station near Wilcannia, found this bird breeding in the mulga scrub fifty miles north from here. 

 He describes the nest as being placed in a thick clump of mistletoe, about six feet from the 

 ground, the nest being composed of twigs and twining plants, with a fine lining of the same 

 material, and was an open cup-shaped structure. It contained two eggs, and was taken on 

 14th October, igoi." 



From Point Cloates, North-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter writes me:~" Splnitosioma 

 cristatum is a remarkably wary and difficult bird to shoot. Its loud metallic ringing song may 

 be heard in the winter months in the dense 'minga' bush, both on the coast and inland; on the 

 slightest noise, however, the song ceases, and the bird either skulks out of sight or flies 

 stealthily away to renew its song in another thicket. I have often wondered how this bird can 

 continue its rapid song for such a length of time without a pause. In the early winter 

 mornings it is delightful to hear several of these birds in different parts of the bush, singing 

 one against another. The eggs, two or three in number, may be found in an open cup- 

 shaped nest, in July or .Vugust." 



The nest is an open cup-shaped structure, of very thin twigs, dried plant stems, tendrils, 

 and rootlets, the inside being lined with a small quantity of greyish-white bark fibre, and very 

 fine wiry rootlets. One received from Mr. C. E. Cowle, has the inner wall formed of fine soft 

 greyish-white grasses, and is thinly lined with fine yellowish-brown rootlets. It averages 

 externally five inches in diameter by two inches in depth, the inner cup measuring two inches 

 and three-fjuarters in diameter by one inch and a half in depth. The nests are usually built 

 in thick brushes, within a few feet of the ground, and occasionally in low scrub trees at a 

 height of six feet. 



Mr. C. E. Cowle also kindly forwarded, through Mr. Keartland, another nest and eggs of 

 this species, taken by him at Illamurta, Central .Australia, together with the following notes :^ 

 " Sphcuostoma cristatum is pretty plentiful here all the year round. It breeds in January, 

 February, and March, but I took a nest with eggs in September, 1898. It makes a rather 

 insecure, open, cup-shaped nest, composed of small twigs and tops of salt-bush, and is generally 

 found in an ironwood, not far from the ground." 



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

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

 colour, which is minutely dotted, spotted, and sparingly blotched with black, particularly on the 

 larger end of the shell, closely resembling the eggs of the introduced Song Thrush (Turdus musicus), 

 from which they diflfer only in their smaller size, and the markings being of irregular shape. 

 Another less common variety is of a pale delicate blue ground colour, and having a wreath 

 formed on the larger end, with small irregular-shaped blotches of dull blackish-brown, inter- 

 mingled with fainter underlying streaks and dashes of inky-grey. Some specimens have the 



