KPHTFUANUHA. 



343 



markings uniformly distributed over the surface of the shell, but as a rule they are confined 

 almost entirely to the thicker end. For the first two sets of eggs I received of this species, I 

 was indebted to the late Mr. W. Liscombe, who found this bird breeding near Wilcannia in 

 October, 1S82, and later on in the same year at Adavale, Queensland. The former set 

 measures:— Length (A) rojxo-GS inches; (B) oxjyxo-Gj inches. A set of three from the 

 same locality, in Mr. G. A. Keartland's collection, measures: — Length (A) o-g x o'64 inches; 

 (B) 0-93 X 0-69 inches; (C) 0-92 x 0-67 inches. A set of two, taken by "Sir. Cowle on the 



27th December, 1902, 

 measures : — Length (A) 

 I xo-68 inches; (6)0-98 

 X 0-7 inches. .'Vn egg of 

 this species in the Aus- 

 tralian Museum collec- 

 tion, taken by one of 

 Sir Thomas Mitchell's 

 party, during his e.x- 

 pedition to the Darling 

 r\i\er in 1S35, measures 

 I X o'7i inches. 



The nest and eggs 

 here figured were pre- 

 sented to the Trustees of 

 the Australian Museum 

 by Mr. C. E. Cowle, 

 who sent the following 

 note with them : — " I am 

 sending a nest and two 

 eggs of the Crested 

 Wedge -bill, which I 

 took in a dead Cassia 

 phyllodinea bush on the 

 27th December, 1902, at Illamurta, Central Australia. This nest is more finished than any 

 I have seen before, and was built between some thin upright forks, about four feet from 

 the ground." 



NKST AND EGGS OF CRESTED WEDGE-BILL. 



C3-en.-U.S EIPIHITm^A^nsrTTI^^^, Gould. 

 Ephthianura albifrons. 



WHITE-FKONTED NUN. 

 Acanlhiza albifrons, Jard. A- Selby, lUust. Orn., Vol. II., pi. .56. 

 /■J/Ji/hianura albifrons, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol.. Vol. III., pi. 64 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., 



Vol. L, p. 377 (1865); Sliarpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. VII, p. 666 (1883); id., Hand-1. 



Bds., Vol. IV., p. 148 (1903). 

 .•\dult male — General colour above dull grey, some 0/ the feathers on the back indistinctly 

 centred with dark brown; rump clear grey; upper iving-coverts dark brown, the lesser coverts edged 

 with grey ; quills dark brorvn, blackish-brown on the outer webs of the primaries ; upper tail-coverts 

 black; tail feathers dark bro-ivn, all but the central pair with a large white spot at the end of the 

 inner web; hinder portion of crown and nape black; forehead, sides of the head, cheeks, and throat 



