64 NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



^'.I'l^- — Clutch, five to seveu, or eiglit ; inclined to oval in 

 shape; textm-e of shell somewhat coarse, with a perceptible trace 

 of gloss upon the surface ; colour, bluish-wliite, here and there marked 

 with blotches of dark umber and dull piu-ple, some of the markings having 

 the appearance of being laid on with a soft brash. Dimensions in 



inches of three examples from a full clutch of eight: (1) 1-14 x -8, 

 (2) 1-14 X -86, (3) 1-06 X -81. (Plate 5.1 



Ohservatinns. — As the distinctive name suggests, the general plumage 

 of this bird is grey, each feather being tipped w-ith a lighter colour ; wings, 

 brown ; tail, black ; while the eyes are pearly wliite and bill and legs black. 

 Total length, about 12 inches. It is indeed an extraordinaiy fact that 

 the three mud-nest building birds of Australia, namely the Corcorax, the 

 Struthidea and the Grallina, should be indi%idually isolated or anomalous 

 forms. The nests, however, may be readily distinguished from one 

 another, the Corcorax being much the largest, while the Struthidea is the 

 finer constructed of the two smaller nests. 



The Grey Struthidea or Jumper, or, as it is more frequently called, the 

 " Apostle Bird." is associated in family flocks like the Corcorax. It is a 

 dweller in the drier tracts of the gi-eat interior provinces. I saw the birds 

 once only in a state of natiu'e. The locality was the Tulla Run, Riverina, 

 (New South Wales). The troop munbered tliirteen, threading a pine 

 (Callitrk) scrub, indi\'idua.ls now and again uttering a harsh note. 



Gilbert, Gould's able coadjutor, was the first to discover the nest and 

 eggs of the Stnithidea, 19th October, 1844, during Leichhardt's exploring 

 expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essingtou. 



Again it was reserved for Mr. Hermann Lau to prove that more than 

 one female Strvithidea, like the Corcorax, lays in the same nest. He 

 says : — " The Trooper Birds (Struthidea), sombre in their garment, and like 

 the Black Magpie (Corcora r ), fomi themselves into an assemblage from 

 eight to sixteen, trotting about together while uttering a squealing note. 

 The little chaps go through at least three broods, commencing in 

 Queensland early in September, and fini.shing up in December. Strict 

 observations led to the result that the whole company attend solely to one 

 nest, which I proved at WaiToo. October, 1869. Finding a nest high 

 up on the branch of a Casuarina, I told my black climber not to touch it 

 should it not contain at least five eggs, and when he called out ' only one,' 

 I ordered him down, intending to make further observations. Accordingly 

 after five days I appeared, expecting now six eggs, but to my surprise the 

 nest contained eight I " Clearly then. Mr. Lau has proved in the finding 

 of seveu eggs in a nest, after an interval of five days, that more than one 

 female Struthidea lays in the same nest, but it has yet to be ascertained 

 how many lay out of a troop say of twelve or thirteen birds, and if a 

 female lavs more than a single egg. 



Breeding months, August to December. 



