NESTS AXD EGGS Ot AV ST KALIAN HIRDS. ,(,. 



The nest is composed of fine fibres of grass, and on the lower portion, 

 wliicli hangs loose below, are often fastened the diy excreta of wood-boring 

 caterpillars, which add weight to it and prevent its being blown over or 

 against the nest. It is hned with fine brown-coloured down off the seeds 

 of scrub plants; a good deal of cob-web is worked in, which materially 

 helps to keep the hghtly-biiilt structure together, and cob-web is also 

 plentifully put on the outside." 



Mr. H. G. Bamard, at Cape York, in the season 1896-7, procured 

 nests of this species m November, and again in February and March. 

 Some of the nests contained eggs partially dried, a circumstance attributed 

 to the intense summer heat. One nest foimd was remarkable for its double 

 set of eggs — three in a miunmified condition and three on top of them 

 perfectly fresh. 



Breeding months August or September to March. 



137. M.VLt'RUS CYANEUS, Ellis. — (185) 



BLUE WREN. 



Figure —Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iii., pi. i8. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. iv., p. 28C. 



Previous Descriptions of Eg^s. — Gould ; Birds of Australia (1848), also 



Handbook, vol. i, p. 319 (1865); North: Austn Mus. Cat., 



p. 112 (18S9). 



Gfoyrn plural Di.<trihut)on. — South Queensland (1), New South Wales, 

 Victoria, and South Australia. 



Nest. — Globular, side-top entrance; usually composed of old gi-eyish 

 weather-beaten grasses with an admixture of cocoons ; lined inside vsrith 

 fine yellowish-coloured grass and finally with feathers, hair, down, seed 

 vessels, &c. Placed near- the ground in a low dense bush or tussock of 

 grass. Exterior dimensions, Al inches in length by 3A inches in breadth; 

 entrance, 1 inch in diameter. 



Eggs. — Clutch, three to four, occasionally five ; oval inchned, sometimes 

 roundish in form ; texture of shell very fine ; surface slightly glossy ; 

 colour, delicate pinkish-white, finely freckled (sometimes slightly blotched) 

 with reddish-brown or pinkish-red, the markings usually being thickest 

 at the larger end, where they generally form a zone. Dimensions in 

 inches of proper clutches, i-ound examples: (1) -68 x -5, (2) -67 x -5, 

 (3) -67 X -5; lengthened examples: (1) -7 x -52, (2) 7 x -5, (3) 7 x -5. 

 (Plate 8.) 



Observations. — The meny and fainiUar Blue Wren is foimd in South- 

 eastern Australia, frequenting alike the coastal and some of the interior 

 localities. 



The breeding season is included in the months from August or Sep- 

 tember to Januai-y, during which period it rears two or three broods. 



