I So NESTS A.\'D EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Di'. E. P. Ramsay has called the Red-backed Wren found m the 

 north-west M. cruentatus-huweri. As to the validity or not of this 

 variety the student must judge for himself by referring to the Doctor's 

 references, namely, Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S. Wales, vol. i., 2nd series, 

 pp. 1089 and 1100. 



The Red-backed Wren i.s probably found as far south, on the west 

 coast, as the North-west Cape. Respecting the bu'd in its north-west 

 habitat, in the " List of Birds " collected by the Calvert Expedition, 

 Mr. G. A. Keartland writes; — "This dehcate but gorgeous httle bird 

 was first noted near the junction of the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers. 

 Although usually foimd in long grass and undergrowth, it occasionally 

 resorts to the larger trees, and one specimen was shot from a branch 

 fifty feet high. It is very tame aad easily approached. Unhke most 

 species of this genus, the present species usually constructs its nest som.e 

 distance from the ground. Those found by Mr. Wells and myself were 

 located in either what is known as the peach-bush or the bauliinia-tree. and 

 four to ten feet from the ground. The nests are built of fine dry grass, 

 with a rather large opening near the top. The clutch of eggs, three or 

 foiu' in number, show considerable variation in colour and markings, but 

 they have usually a fieshy-white groimd, more or less spotted with red, 

 which in some cases forms a zone." 



Breeding months, September to April. 



152. — Malurus mel.\nocephalus. Vigors and Horsfield. — (196) 

 ORANGE-BACKED WREN. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Austraha, fol., vol. iii , plate 26. 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. iv., p- 296. 

 Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Campbell : Southern Science Record 

 (1883); North: Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 117 (1S89), 



Geographieal Distrihution. — South Queensland and New Soixth Wales. 



1' 



Nest. — Oval, dome-shaped, with side-entrance near the top : composed 

 of grass, and lined inside with finer grass, thistle-down, (fee. Usually 

 situated in grass or other herbage. Dimensions, 4A^ inches in length by 

 2i inches in breadth ; entrance (oval), \l inches by 1 inch across. 



W^here Cape goosebeiTy plants exist tlus Wren invariably uses an 

 admixtiu-e of skeletons of the outer covering of the berries in the 

 construction of its nest. 



Eggs. — Clutch, three to four ; roundish in form ; texture of shell very 

 fine ; surface shghtly glossy ; colour, wliite, lightly blotched and spotted 

 about the apex with chestnut or reddish-brown. Dimensions in inches of a 

 proper clutch (Queensland): (1) -61 x -46, (2) -6 x -48, (3) ■57x-47; 

 of a full set (New South Wales) : (1) -65 x -47. (2) -65 x -46. (3) -63 x -47, 

 (4) -61 X -48. 



