iVESTS A,\'D EGGS 01- .WSTRALlAiV BIRDS. 8g 



Xesi. — Cup-shaped, deep, constructed of strips of bark (outer); lined 

 inside with rootlets chiefly, fine twigs and grass, and placed usually near 

 the ground in a hollow stump, thick bush, or clump of foliage, or in a. 

 niche in a bank or ledge of rock in any timbered locality. Not unfrequently 

 this Shrike Tlirush builds into the deserted nest of some other species of 

 bird. Dimensions over all, 6 to 7 inches by 3 to 5 inches in depth; egg 

 cavity, 3^ inches across by ''1\ inches deep. 



Eijgii. — Clutch, usually three, sometimes four, one instance of five ; 

 roundish-oval or oval in shape ; te.vture of shell fine ; surface glossy ; 

 colour, beautiful pearly-white, blotched and spotted, in some instances 

 sparingly, with ohve and duU-slatc mai-kings. Dimensions in inches of a 

 pair: (1) 1-14 X -86, (2) Mix -85: of a clutch: (1) 1-07 x -84. 

 (2) 1-04 X -84, (3) 1-02 X -85. (Plate 6.) 



Observations. — The specific term harmonica was well applied by 

 Dr. Latham to this bird, and the name stands as a refutation against those 

 persons who, from ignorance perhaps, say that Australia possesses no birds 

 given to melody. 



The Harmonious or Grey Thmsh, as a slationaiy species, is conunonly 

 distributed over the gi-eater portion of Eastern Austraha. and is well 

 represented over the rest of the Continent by one or the other of the 

 several species. My notebook shows that I took four nests of this familiar 

 Shrike Thrush, one at Bagshot, near Bendigo, on the 6th October, 1880, 

 containing tlu-ee eggs ; two at Nhill in the Mallee, and the fourth at 

 Dandenong Creek, 18th September, 1886, with three eggs. 



I have never seen nests of the Grey Tluush like the two mentioned 

 by Mr. Robert Hall in his notes on the " Birds of Box-hill,' which were 

 neatly lined inside with mud. I think Mr. Hall hits the right nail on the 

 head when he says, " There is a great likeness to the nest of the introduced 

 Thrush in this particular build. " It is not at all unlikely that the native 

 birds appropriated a nest of the English songster. 



Referring to this Thrush in its South Queensland habitat, Mr. Lau 

 remarks : — " One of our best songsters, and of plain dress, in both respects 

 resembling the master-singer — the nightingale. The places chosen for 

 nidificatiou are various, namely, between the foUage of shady trees (apple, 

 eucalypt, native mulbeiT}', melaleuca, &c.), in a stump-hole (the remains of 

 a standing tree), or on the ledge of protuberant bark. On one occasion 

 one was made in a deserted Magpie Lark's nest. In general the nest is 

 not placed high. Rootlets, dry sticks and diy gi-ass, lined xrith pUable 

 bark, compose it, wherein four eggs snugly rest. 



" At Whetstone, seeing a nest over a brook in a melaleuca branch 

 which I was unable to reach with my hand, I bent it down with a stick, 

 and foimd, to my gi-eat sui-prise and horror, the nest filled \rith a carpets 

 snake, which had taken possession of it for a dormitory after, in all 

 probability, swallowing the contents.' 



With reference to this Tln-ush building its nest in or upon deserted 

 nests of other birds, Mr. James G. McDougall, of South Australia, informs 

 me that on Yorke Peninsula old Magpie or Babblers' ( Pomatorinus) nests 

 are selected, which are neatly re-lined with bark. 



