. NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 243 



Ohservationx. — This is another singular and little understood bird — 

 a dweller in the thick scnibby places in (he great interior provinces. 



The bird is reputed to possess a sweet melodious song. 



Gilbert, writing to Gould from West Australia, says the Red-throat 

 " makes its nest on the gi'ound, precisely like the members of the genus 

 Calaiminthus. I found a pak building in the month of September; upon 

 visiting the spot again, after an interval of a week, the nest appeared 

 finished, being lined with feathers, but there were no eggs : iniforlunately. 

 from this time the birds deserted the nest." 



In connection with the Calvert Expedition, during the flying trip 

 t.aken by Messrs. L. A. Wells and G. L. Jones, in August (1896), they 

 found a beautiful clutch of three eggs of this species. The nest was in 

 a thick bush about three feet from the ground. 



196. — Sericornis citreogul.\ris, Gould. — (213) 



YELLOW-THROATED SCRUB WREN. 



Figure — Gould Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iii., pi. 46. 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. vii., p. 302. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould: Birds of .Australia {1S4S), also 

 Handbook, vol. i. p. 356 (1865); North: Austn. Mus. Cat., 

 p. 129. pi. 9, fig. 5 (18S9). 



Geographical Dktrihution. — Queensland, New South Wales, and 

 Victoria (Eastern). 



Neat. — Bulky, bottle or pear-shaped, with hooded side entrance ; out- 

 wardly composed of trails of beautiful goklcn-grecn moss with a mixture 

 of black thread-like rootlets, especially about the entrance ; occasionally 

 a few dead leaves are interwoven ; lined inside with soft grasses and a 

 plentiful supply of feathers, &c. Usually suspended by the neck from a 

 low branch or lawyer palm (Calamus) cane in thick scrub, more frequently 

 overhanging a water-course. Dimensions: length 15 or 16 inches; 

 diameter in bi-oadest part 5 inches, in naiTowest l.\ to 2 inches; entrance 

 1 inch across. 



E(j(jx. — Clutch, two to three ; elongated or long oval in form ; texture 

 of shell fine surface glossy ; colour, varies from vinaceous to light piu-phsh- 

 buff, usually of a darker shade on the apex, or with a belt of indistinct 

 markings of dark purplish-brown or imiber. Some specimens resemble in 

 a remarkable degree the colour of a ripe acorn. Dimensions in inches of 

 a proper pair: (1) 1-08 x -67, (2) -99 x -69 ; of a slightly shorter pair: 

 (1) •98x-7. (2) -gSx-T. (Plate 11.) 



