34G TIMELIID.E. 



when emptied of their contents become pure white, and have dots and spots of dark reddish- 

 brown or rich purpHsh-red, particularly on the larger end, where in rare instances they form an 

 ill-defined zone. In some specimens the markings are rounded, in others they are of irregular 

 shape, and many are confluent, forming small patches. A few have short streaks, others clusters 

 of very small dots, and one now before me has a single comet-shaped marking on the larger end. 

 Some have the ground faintly tinged with red, but in a remarkable set of four I took at 

 Canterbury, New South Wales, on the 15th November, 1892, three of them are of a very faint 

 creamy-buff, dotted and spotted with rich purplish-brown, the other is pure white and similarly 

 marked with pale pinkish-red. This set measures: — (A) o-66 x 0-55 inches; (B) 0-69 x 0-54 

 inches; (C) 07 x 0-54 inches; (D) 07 x 0-55 inches. A set of three, taken on the 29th October, 

 1892, in the same paddock as the above set, measures: — (A) 078 x 0-53 inches; (B) 075 x 0-52 

 inches; (C) 074x0-52 inches. A set of three, taken by Dr. L. Holden on the 23rd October, 

 1898, at Rokeby, Tasmania, measures: — Length (A) 077x0-54 inches; (6)0-72x0-5 inches; 

 (C) 0-73 X 0-55 inches. Mr. E. H. Lane informs me that he has a set of five eggs in his 

 collection that was taken by Mr. Charles Spicer on the 6th December, 1899, at Lewis Ponds, 

 about twelve miles from Orange, New South Wales. 



Fledgelings resemble the female in colour, but the upper parts have a distinct buffy tinge, 

 which is more conspicuous on the rump; wings dark ashy-brown, the greater coverts and quills 

 margined with bufT; all the under surface dull white, slightly washed with bufifon the throat, 

 chest, and sides of the body, and with an indication of a narrow brown band on the fore-neck, 

 which is apparent in the young male before it leaves the nest. Wing 2 inches. 



There is a beautiful albino of Ephthiaiuira alhifrons in the Australian Museum, obtained at 

 Western Port, Victoria. 



The breeding season in South-eastern Australia extends over the greater part of the year. 

 In New South Wales, nests with fresh eggs may be found from July until the end of December, 

 but are more numerous in September. Probably three or more broods are reared, for in the 

 neighbourhood of Sydney, during the bright clear days of March, I have on two occasions 

 found their nests with fresh eggs, — one on the 4th March, 1892, and the other on the 23rd 

 March, 1893. At St. Kilda, in Victoria, I found a nest built in the acclimatised Cape- weed, 

 containing three fresh eggs on the 30th June, and on the following day, at the mouth of the 

 Yarra River, found more than twenty in low bushes and bracken fern, containing from one to 

 three eggs in each. The male sometimes assists in the task of incubation. At Canterbury, 

 New South Wales, on the 15th November, 1892, while walking among some rushes, I flushed 

 a male from a tuft where I found it had been sitting on four fresh eggs. Although he perched 

 on the top of a bush a few yards away, and remained there some time uttering his plaintive 

 notes, the female did not respond to his call nor did I see her. 



As I have previously pointed out, this species is one of the foster parents of the Rufous- 

 tailed Bronze Cuckoo (Lamprococcyx basalis). I once saw a bird in pursuit of another, both of 

 which alighted on a fence near my house. The larger one proved to be a fledgelmg of L. basalis, 

 who, with outspread wings, was eagerly clamouring for food, and although repeatedly fed by its 

 diminutive foster-parent, it seemed all the time I watched it, to be suffering from the pangs of 

 incessant hunger. 



