A'EsrS AXD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. i kj 



95. — Myiagra rubecula, Latliiini. -(H-i) 

 jy. phunhed. Vigors and Horsfield. 



LEADEN-COLOURED FLYCATCHER. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol., vol. ii., pi Sg 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. iv.,p. 373. 



Previous Deuriftions of Eggs. — Ramsay: Ibis, vol. i., New Ser , p. 401 ' 

 (1865); Campbell; Victorian Naturalist (1SS7). 



Geographical Dixtrihutinn. — Australia in general and Tasmania; also 

 New Guinea. 



Ne^t. — -A perfect model, neat, cupshaptd. .somewhat deep, constructed 

 of fine bark covered with cob-webs and beautifully decorated, especially 

 round the rim, with portions of lichen or small shields of bark, Uaed inside 

 with nothing special except the fine bark. Usually situated on a dead 

 horizontal branch of a tall tree in forest country. Dimensions over all, 

 2f to 3 inches by H to 2 inches in depth ; cg^ cavity, \h inches across by 

 IJ inches deep. 



Eggs. — Clutch, three ; short-oval in shape, more largely rounded at one 

 end ; texture of shell fine ; surface glossy ; colour, whitish, blotched and 

 spotted, in the fonii of a broad belt round the upper quarter, with umber 

 and piu-pUsh or obsciu'e gi'ey. Dimensions in inches of a proper clutch : 

 (1) -75 X -57, (2) -75 x -57, (3) -73 x -57. (Plate 9.) 



Observalions. — At one portion or another of the year this most active 

 Flycatcher has been observed throughout the denser timber tracts of 

 Australia, and occasionally in Tasmania. 



Tlie general plumage of the male is a glossy leaden colour, with abdo- 

 minal region white. As in the Satin Fl3X'atclier and others of its genus, 

 the female has the rusty-red throat and breast ; bill bluish-black with black 

 tip, eyes and feet also black. 



It is a migratory species, and according to various observers appears 

 in Northern Queensland as early as the beginning of Augiist, reaching 

 South Queensland, New South Wales, and other southern parts in Sep- 

 tember, and pairing, commences to breed in October. The breeding season 

 lasts to the end of the year, even to Januaiy in Victoria, and by March 

 the Leaden-coloured Flycatchers retrace their flight northward, the young 

 instinctively following in the same direction. 



Gould did not procure eggs of the Leaden-coloured Flycatcher, but 

 furnishes a rough description of the nest. Dr. Ramsay states, although 

 the bird is not so numerous during the months of November and December 

 as when it first arrives in the vicinity of Sydnev in September, still many 

 remain to breed. They leave the closely-wooded sides of the creeks and 

 watercourses, and show a decided preference to the more open or half- 

 cleared land, choosing as sites for their nests the horizontal boughs of the 

 larger trees. The nesfcs I have observed were in the forests, in trees 

 always too high and too difficult to obtain the eggs. The nests and eggs 

 I first described were, together with the birds, taken by a small pai-ty of 



