354 TI.MKLIIU.E. 



a^HE tvpe of Calamaiithns fitUginosus was described by Vigors and Horsfield in the 

 "Transactions of the Linnean Society.''* who state "this bird was procured by Mr. 

 Brown at \'an Diemen's Land in 1804." Dr. R. 15. Sharpe. in descrihin.i; this species in the 

 "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum,"! records the type as being obtained in Australia, 

 and enumerates trve examples from South Australia, one in the Gould collection being obtained 

 at INIount Gambier, near the border of south-western Mctoria. Dr. A. M. Morgan and Mr. A. 

 Zietz inform me that they have never met with it, or seen an example in any collection formed 

 in South Australia. The above descriptions are taken from examples received in the flesh 

 from Mr. E. D. Atkinson, and obtained by him at W'aratah, at the foot of Mount BischofT, in 

 north-western Tasmania. These specimens, six in number, are all larger and darker than 

 others procured by Mr. George blasters at the Ouse River, in March, 1S67, and an adult male 

 and female obtained by Dr. L. Holden at Bellerive, near Hobart, in May, 1904. Should 

 Vigors and Horsfield"s Cahviuinthus fidiginosus be founded on an Australian specimen, then I 

 would propose the name of Calamanthus dieineiieiisis for the birds described on the preceding page 

 from Waratah, Tasmania. 



Stomachs of specimens procured by Mr. E. I), .\lkiiison at Waratah on the 12th July, 

 1902, and received in the flesh by the Trustees of the .\ustralian Museum, contained the 

 remains of various insects, principally of water-beetles. In another were small fragments of an 

 aquatic plant and a perfect specimen of a water-beetle. The walls of the stomachs of these 

 birds are very thin. 



From l>r. L. Holden's notes, I extract the following: — "Calaiiuintlius fidiginosus is common 

 about Circular Head, on the north-west coast of Tasmania. It carries its tail high, jerks it 

 backwards and forwards, and warbles cheerfully while perched on a spray or tussock. Game 

 dogs point to it as to Quail; it runs before the 'dog as the Quail does, is difficult to flush, and 

 drops again after a flight of a few yards. I found a nest from which I disturbed the bird, on 

 the 31st October, 1886. It was built in a button-grass tussock among water, very closely 

 concealed and difficult to find. The base, which rested on the ground and was quite damp, 

 was made of moss and coarse grass, above that the structure was ball-shaped, and formed of 

 fine dried grasses and was scantily lined with feathers of the Swamp Parrakeet (Pezoporiis 

 formosus), and contained three fresh eggs. On the 14th July, 1888, I found a nest containing 

 three eggs, with well formed chickens in them. It was in dry ferny ground, and built in a 

 clump of coarse grass and fern, and lined with dry grass, hare's fur, cow-hair, and Quail's 

 feathers. The pointer stood the bird on the nest w'hiie we were out Ouail shooting. Another 

 nest I found on the 15th September, 1889, contained three young, just hatched." 



The eggs are three in nuiriber for a sitting, oval or swollen-oval in form, some specimens 

 are rather pointed at the smaller end, the shell being close-grained, smooth, and glossy. They 

 vary from a pale chocolate-brown to faint purplish-brown, and typically have indistinct freckles 

 and clouded markings of a slightly darker shade of the ground colour predominating at the 

 thicker end, where they form in some specimens an indistinct cap or zone. Others are of a 

 light reddish or pale purplish-brown, entirely free from markings, or may be of a slightly darker 

 hue on the thicker end and gradually becoming lighter at the smaller end. A set of three, taken 

 by Dr. L. Holden on Montagu Plain, near Circular Head, on the 31st October, 1886, measures 

 as follows: — Length (.'\.) 0-92 x 0-67 inches; (B) 0-95 x 0-67 inches: (C) 0-95 x 0-65 inches. 



Mr. R. N. Atkinson found this species breeding at Waratah, in November. Mr. E. D. 

 Atkinson sends me a note of his brother the Rev. H. D. Atkinson finding a nest with three 

 eggs at Evandale, on the 24th December, 1890; another, with three eggs, on the 12th 



• Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. xv., p. 230 (1826). 

 t Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. vii., p. 502 (1883). 



