A'ESTS AND EGGS OF AUSrA'Al/A.V BIKVS. 



95 



Further north at Cape York, his brother, Mr. H. G. Barnard, duinng 

 January and Febniary, 1897, took uo less than sixteen nests — eight 

 cont.aiiiing two eggs each, and eight with a complement of three eggs eadi. 



Breeding season extends from September to February. 



FAMILY— CAMPOPHAGID^ : CUCKOO SHRIKES. 



73- — Pteropodocys phasianell.\, Gould. — 108) 

 GROUND CUCKOO SHRIKE. 



Figure. — Gould ; Birds of Australia, fol , vol ii . pi. 59 



Reference.— Ca.t. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. iv., p. 22. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs — Ramsay : Proc Linn. Soc, N S. Wales, 

 vol. vii., p. 47, pi. 3, fig I (1SS2) ; Campbell : Southern Science 

 Record (1882) ; North ; .\ustn Mus. Cat., pi. y, fif;. 2 (iSSg), 



Geographicol Didrtbutiun. — South Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, Soutli and West Australia. 



Xe-^t. — Greatly resembles that of (rraiimhix inelanaiis, and is placed in 

 a similar situation on horizontal boughs ; it is composed of grasses and 

 stalks of various plants interwoven and fastened together by spiders' webs, 

 &c., and is lined with finer glasses, &c. Inside diameter 4 inches, the 

 depth li inches (about); the height of the rim above the branch on which 

 it is placed is 1 inch (Ramsay). 



Egga. — Clutch, two to three; lengthened and tapering in form; texture 

 of shell fine ; surface very glossy ; colour, dark warm-green or olive, 

 usually without any distinct markings, but \vitli the slightest washings 

 all over, especially on the apex, of a darker shade of the same tint; others 

 are lightly marbled or clouded all over with a chestnut tint. Dimensions 

 in inches of a clutch : (1) 1-35 x -88, (2) 1-3 x -87 ; of a smaller-sized pair : 

 (1) 1-18 X -85, (2) 1-14 X -82. (Phite 7.) 



Observations. — This very fine form is essentially a dweller in interior 

 parts, where, on the red plains of Rivei'ina, for instance, I, vnth lively 

 interest, have observed them feeding like pigeons upon the ground, hence 

 the very descriptive name of Ground Grauealus or Cuckoo Shrike. It is 

 a very shy bird, and when perched on a tree has an erect pose like a Bee 

 Eater. Of the Grriiicali tliis bird is the only terrestrial form that came under 

 Gould's notice either here or in the great nursery of these birds — India and 

 the Austro-Malayan Islands. However, in Gould's day nothing was 

 known of the nidification of the species. Dr. Ramsay described the eggs 

 in 1882, when he was kind enough to present me with a beautiful pah-. 

 It was a coincidence that in the same year I received another pair from 

 " Barratta, " Riverina, taken bv a friend, now deceased. 



