1 62' NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Ef/i/s. — Clutch, two usually, three occasionally ; inclined to oval in 

 shape ; texture of shell fine ; sui-face glossy ; colour, waniiish-white, 

 somewhat heavily blotched, especially round the apex, with reddish-brown 

 and pui-plish-brown. Dimensions in inches of a clutch; (1) •? x -5, 

 (2) -68 X -5 ; of a larger pair with markings all over and more of a 

 speckled nature: (1) -74 x -53, (2) -74 x -52. (Plate 8.) 



Ohiervationn. — The pretty Masked Geiygoue, or Black-throated Fly 

 Eater, is a dweller in the rich tropical growths of Northern Queensland. 

 The species is somewhat puzzling, because we rarely see the full " masked " 

 male, as figured in Gould from the original specimen secured through the 

 instrumentality of Messrs. Jardine — father and son — at Cape York. 



According to the British Museum Catalogue, Dr. Ramsay's variety, 

 G. flavida, may be incoi-porated with the Masked bird, or P. jMrsonata. 

 Dr. Ramsay apparently entertained a doubt about the validity of his own 

 species, for in the " Remarks " on liis " Tabular List," p. 34, he states : • — 



" I have lately seen specimens of a Geiygone from the north-east 

 coast which seem to indicate that my G. fidvida is only the female of 

 Mr. Gould's G. persunata ; but notwithstanding the gi'eat similarity in size 

 and plumage, further proof will be necessary, as we have lately received 

 the adults, male and female, of G. flavida, shot on taking their nest and 

 eggs, and three males examined are exactly alike in plumage to the 

 females ; but it is not improbable that the young males of G. personata 

 resemble the females in plumage, and breed before attaining adult livery. 

 No specimens, however, in the plumage of the adult male of G. personata 

 have yet been obtained from Rockingham Bay." 



Mr. W. B. Barnard, on returning from a northern trip, wi'ote to me 

 as follows : — •" I am sending you two skins ( J' and ) of what I believe to 

 be a Gerygone. I only succeeded in getting two eggs of this little bird, 

 and these, I am sorry to say, the rats ate. They were lialf-an-inch long, 

 pink speckled all over, especially at the larger end, where a ring is formed. 

 I found three nests, two of which the birds forsook. They were all 

 built hanging under leaves of lawyer palms, four to six feet from the 

 ground. The entrance at the side had a cover over it. The nests were 

 composed of fibre of palm trees and bits of their bark, and lined inside 

 with feathers. Breeds in December." 



In the male bird the deep olive-brown patch or shield on the chest is 

 not so defined or " clearly cut " as in Gould's figure. In the female this 

 mark is absent. 



I here give Mr. D. Le Souef's experience of the Masked Gerygone, or, 

 as it seems to have been fitly termed locally, the " Hornet's Nest Bird :" — 

 " These Uttle birds are vei-y shy and difficult to secure in the thick scnib 

 where they make their home. One curious circumstance is that they 

 always seem to build their hanging, dome-shaped nests in close proximity 

 to a wasp's nest, from within a few inches to four feet away, and it is 

 difficult to conjecture for what reason. The nests vaiy in size, and are 

 generally suspended from the end of a thin branch or palm leaf. 

 They have a porch at the entrance, sometimes going straight in and 

 occasionally upward, and more prominent in some than in others. 



