^ESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIKOS. 121 



97. — Myiagua nitida, Gould. — (1-1(5) 

 SATIN FLYCATCHER. 



FigKir.— Gould : Birds of Australia, lol., vol. ii., pi 91. 



Re/erence. — Cat, Birds Brit. Mus . vol. iv., p. 375. 



Previous Dcsciiftioiis 0/ Eggs. — Gould: Birds of Australia (1S48), also 



Handbook, vol. i., p 256 (1865) : N'orlh : Austn Mus. Cat., 



p. 94 (1889). 



Gfoi/mp/iica/ Distrihiifiun. — Quecusland, Now South Wales, Victoria, 

 South AustraHa (probably), and Tasmania. 



.Vo-^.— Cup-shaped, beautifully-fonncd, with broad and well-rounded 

 lim ; constructed of strips of bark covered with spiders' webs, ornamented 

 here and there with portions of Uchen ; lined inside with fine bark and 

 a few rootlets, and usually situated on a dead horizontal branch of a tall 

 cucalypt. Dimensions over all, 3A inches by 2 inches in depth ; egg cavity, 

 IJ inches across by 1^ inches deep. 



Effffs. — Clutch, three, occasionally two only ; short-oval in shape, 

 having the usual Flycatcher-like form — prominently roimded at one end; 

 texture of shell fine ; surface glossy ; colour, pearly-white, spotted and 

 blotched with lunber and piu-plish-grey in a well-defined belt round the 

 upper quarter. Not unhkc small-sized eggs of the Restless Flycatcher. 

 Dimensions in inches of a proper clutch: (1) '77 x -59, (2) -76 x -59, 

 (3) ■76x-58. I Plate D.) 



Observations. — Tliis hvely and truly "shming ' Flycatcher ranges from 

 Cape York, in Northern Austraha, to Tasmania in the south. It has been 

 obsen'ed to remain in the first-mentioned habitat throughout the year, 

 wliile the majority, moving southward, reach then- insular quarters during 

 September, arriving sometimes towards the end of the month. It departs 

 again from Tasmania in Febniary, passing into Queensland in March 

 or April. It is only seen occasionally in the intermecUate locahties of 

 Victoria and New South Wales. 



The coat of the male Satin Flycatcher is a rich, glossy (Eke satin) 

 greenish-black, with most of the under surface white; bill leaden-colour, 

 passing into black at the point ; eyes and feet also black. Total length, 

 6i inches. 



The female, however, differs much by possessing a rich, rasty-red throat 

 and breast, and the upper surface less brilliant than it appears in her mate. 



In Tasmania, Gould experienced httle difliculty in obtaini n g several 

 nests and eggs of the Satin Flycatcher among the gullies and forest land 

 on the north side of Moimt Welhngton. He says the nest is usually 

 placed 'at the extreme tip of a dead branch, at a height varying from 

 twenty to forty feet from the ground. Some of the nests are formed of 

 a minute species of light-gi"een moss, others are constructed of fine threads 

 of stringy-bark ; " all are rendered very warm by a dense lining of soft 

 hair of the opossum, the flocculent fibres of the tree-fern, and blossoms of 

 many other kinds of plants. 



