348 



TI.MELIID.E. 



■Hr * '^^IRr^^V^^BL^^K J 



In this stage of plumage, they cannot be distinguished, except by dissection, from young males; 

 but some birds are much richer and darker in colour than others, even when procured at the 

 same time and in the same locality. 



Dr. \\'. ]\Iacgillivray informs me that this species is numerous in the Cloncurry District, 

 Northern Queensland, during wet seasons, and breeds in small bushes on the plains in March 

 and .\pril. Writing me from Broken Hill, in South-western New South Wales, he remarks: — 

 " Ephthianura tricolor I first noted here on the 13th October, 1901, but it soon increased in numbers. 

 The nests are built of fine herbage and roots, much like those of E. aurifrons. I have three before 

 me now, taken near a dwelling; one is almost wholly composed of horse-hair, another of string, 



and the third mainly 



. *-# V of the natural material 



. *, 3t . , with an admixture of 



^^^ ^"''M JI^ **«^ feathers and horsehair. 



i;j •|^.-/'> ^V fl^^n XjwBlw^^ ^^ J E. tricolor a.ndE. aurifrons 



H X^ ' ' ^BKiklli. iV flUu./'l^^^V ^^H^A^ are not here during the 



H^^ &i'i • ^T^^t W ^^■■r ^TK ^^^^< ^BSIE^^k ^vinter, even when con- 



I^BLjl t \ ff ^VS^^aiTtHI Sk ' vB^jH^^k ^itions of living are 



^^^HCU .1. : •>' \cf I^JtriKrf^'M »^S> "^^^^^H favourable, as in 1901." 



The accompanying 



figure is reproduced 



from a photograph, 



taken by the late Mr. 



11. r. C. Ashworth, to 



wlioni I am indebted 



for the loan of this, as 



well as many other 



...^ _ i^_^ _^__._, -TiLt— n»jM -at- interesting pictures. 



■B^l^ ^^tSS^MSe ■ 7^^ '^^ 1 ^tf^H ^^ riting me in 1897, he 



^^^^ ^9WjipJS)l V ^* flkft^^^l^^H lemarked: — "The nest 



H^K. ^^-lV'%'' ^- ^rT^k^~~'''J^^m of Ephthianura tricolor 



ber, 1897, in Caldwell's 

 Vineyard, near Wagga 

 W'agga, New South 

 Wales. Thenestswere 

 very plentiful, and as 



one walked among the vines, the hen-birds would tumble out in front of one, and drag an 

 apparently broken wing along the ground while in the vicinity of the nest, the cock-birds in the 

 meantime frying anxiously from stake to stake." 



From Iliamurta, Central Australia, Mr. C. E. Cowle writes me: — "Ephthianura tricolor 

 seems to arrive with the approach of warm weather, and disappears during winter. I would not 

 like to say that they leave altogether, as I have observed them in August. One often sees 

 little mobs of dull plumaged birds which all look like females, and I have often tried to find 

 out from the blacks where the males are; they reply, 'him only piccaninny, by-and-bye flash 

 one.' The birds appear to me to be adults, though. This species breeds from December to 

 April, inclusive, building a neat, round, open nest in a porcupine-bush or cotton-bush, or any 

 low shrub, and usually lay three or four and sometimes five eggs, which vary a lot as to the 

 markings on them." 



NEST AND EGGS OF CRIMSON-BRKASTED NUN. 



