,68 NESTS A.VD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



year (query, A. J. C.) Speaking again of the Malurus, he is a polygamist, 

 having two, three, or sometimes four wives. Only once have I seen the 

 reverse. It was on the banks of the Severn River, 1880, where one female 

 enjoyed the company of two husbands, one clad in blue and the other in 

 red.'' 



Besides the breeding months above mentioned, the Blue Wren 

 occasionally lays as late as March. 



The picture of the " Nest of the Blue Wren " is taken from an example 

 that was prettily situated in a flowering bush. 



138. — Malurus CYANOCHL.i^Mys, Sharpe. 



SILVERY-BLUE WREN. 



Reference. — Proc. Zool. Soc , p. 788 (18S1) 



Previous Description of Eggs.— North : Proc. Linn. Soc, N. S. Wales, 

 vol. ii., 2nd ser., p. 406 (1887). 



Geographical Distribufioii. — Queensland and New South Wales 

 (probably). 



Nest. — A dome-shaped structure with an entrance in the side ; con- 

 structed of dried grasses intermingled with spiders' webs ; Uned inside with 

 feathers, hair, &c., and placed in a tliick bush close to the gi-oimd (Noith). 



Eggs. — Clutch, three to foiu' ; fleshy-wliite, sprinkled all over with pale 

 reddish-brown markings, sometimes forming a coalesced patch on one 

 end. Dimensions in inches of a full clutch: (1) '68 x -5, (2) '68 x '5, 

 (3) -67 X -48, (4) -66 x -51 (North). 



Observations. — The Silvery-blue Wren is the northern variety of the 

 Common Blue Wren, having been separated from that species by Dr. Sharpe. 

 Specimens of this Wren were obtained in the Herbert River district. 

 North Queensland, also the examples of eggs from which Mr. North took 

 his description, and wliich were stated to have been collected as far back 

 as November, 1868, or thirteen years before the bird received its specific 

 name. I have been loaned a skin of the Silvery-blue Wren, collected by 

 Mr. H. P. C. Ashworth, at Roma. 



Gould himself evidently overlooked tliis variety, for it was out of his 

 collection that Dr. Sharpe took the type, wliich was labelled — " Moreton 

 Bay, F. Strange." The male of the Silvery-blue Wren has the bright- 

 coloured parts of Ids plumage painted silvery cobalt instead of the deej) 

 cobalt as seen in M. cyiineus. It is possible that the hghter-plumaged 

 bird is also found in the Northern portion of New South Wales, to the 

 west of the Dividing Range. 



