^'i:sTS AA'P tGGS or austa'aliax birds. 



123 



QlistrvatUiiu. — This iiuL' Flycatcher, distiiigiiishable by its great breadth 

 of bill, is a dweller of the northern parts of the Continent. Gilbert 

 procured it in the Port Darwin district. 



Nothing was known of its nidification until Mr. D. Lo Souef described 

 in the " Ibis ' a nest and eggs which were found by Mr. H. G. Barnard, 

 at Cape York, on the 20th December, 1896. 



The nest was built in a mangrove-tree overhanging a deep streajn, 

 and so awkwardly situated that the eggs had to be pushed into a hand- 

 kerchief tixed to a long stick. When the nest was detached it unfortunately 

 fell into the water, and was carried away by the current. Subsequently, 

 Mr. Barnard found two other nests, but they both contained voung. 



The birds were not seen in open forest coiuitry, but only among the 

 mangroves, where it was difficult to observe them on account of the 

 surrounding quagmires. 



The description of the eggs above is taken from the types in 

 Mr. Le Souef's collection. 



99. — MaCILEUOKIIYNCHLS FLAVIVENTER, Gould. (148). 



YELLOW-BREASTED FLYCATCHER. 



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

 Reference,— CaA. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. iv., p. 390. 

 Previous Description 0/ Eggs. — Le Souef: Ibis. p. 398 (1897) 



Geographical Distribution. — Queensland. 



Nest. — Shallow, somewhat loosely constructed of dead, short flowering 

 stems (apparently) of plants, attached by cob-webs, in the fork of a thin, 

 hoiizontal branch ; lined with green material and fine ciu'ly tendrils of 

 climbing plants. Dimensions over all, 2i to 3 inches by If inches in 

 depth; e^g cavity, li to 1| inches across by | inch deep. 



Eggx. — Clutch, two usually ; stout oval in shape ; texture of shell fine ; 

 surface glossy ; colour, pure or pearly-white, very sparingly spotted, but 

 thickest about the apex, with yellowish-red or rufous and purple. 

 Dimensions in inches of a clutch: (1) •71x'51, (2) -Ix-bl; of another 

 pair: (1) '68 x '51, (2) -GB x -52. These eggs are hghter-coloui-ed and have 

 less markings than any others known of the Australian Flycatchers. 

 (Plate 9.) 



Observations. — The gay Yellow-breasted Flycatcher is considered a 

 denizen of Cape York Peninsula. However, it is recorded that 

 Mr. lUridge in former years had shot the bii-d as far south as the 

 Greenwood Scinib, near Brisbane. 



A pretty httle picture is associated with the procuring of Gould's 

 type specimen, which Mr. James Wilcox shot at Cape Y''ork. That 

 collector first observed it on the outskirts of a dense scrub, making short 

 fhghts to snap at passing flies, then returning again to the same tree, 

 which was the Wormia alata of botanists, and distinguished by its red. 



