iVESTS AXD J-Aias 01 AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 283 



Egtjs. — Clutch, three usually, foiu- occasioually ; somewhat round iu 

 fonn ; textui'e of shell tiue ; sm-facc shghtly glossy ; colour, white, some- 

 times with a faint pinkish blush, moderately marked with spots and round 

 blotches, chielly round Uie upper quarter, of rich or dark purplish-brown, 

 and duller coloured markings of the same tint. Dimensions in inches 

 of a proper clutch : (1) 't x '57, (2) -7 x -56, (3) -68 x -56 ; of a smaller- 

 sized pail- : (1) -68 X -54, (2) -68 x -54. 



Observations. — The common Bush Chat is an exceedingly interesting 

 and pleasing bird, enjoying a somewhat extensive habitat from South 

 Queensland down southward and across to Western Australia, and 

 including Ta,smania. Gould and Dr. Ramsay do not include Tasmania 

 in the habitat for the White-fronted Chat, although the former authority 

 admits it is very common and breeds on some of the islands — probably 

 referring to the Fmuieaux Group — in Bass Strait. It is somewhat 

 strange that Gould states. "It does not inhabit Tasmania;" while it 

 appears on 8ti-zclecki's old list (1845) for that island, and he mentions 

 that he wa,s indebted to Gould for the name amongst others. 



With the mention of this familiar and quaint bird there occur to me 

 many pleasiuit reminiscences of bygone days, when the waste tracts of 

 the foreshore between St. Kilda and Port Melbourne (then Sandridge), 

 were covered with low scrub, and where we, as boys, foimd many nests. 

 How cunningly the birds, feigning broken wings or legs, used to endeavour 

 to divert om- attention from the site of their nest, which was usually close 

 to the gi"ound in the heart of a bush ! 



Since, I have found them in many other localities — in the prickly 

 jR-acia hedges at Cheltenham, in the low sci-ub on the Malice fringe, and 

 in the rush-like grass on the MiUTay plains. My very last noto w;is a 

 nest noticed with a fresh egg on the oth August, 1894, while looking for 

 Plovers' nests in some swampy ground at W'harparilla, in the Echuca 

 district. I never found more than three eggs to a nest. 



Breeding months, July to December, or the beginning of January. 

 Mr. North has found nests containing fresii eggs at the end of March. 



Mr. J. T. Gillespie, our good field worker, first brought under my 

 notice the fact, whicii I recorded in 1889, that the White-fronted Bush 

 Chat was a foster-pai-cnt of the Narrow-billed Bronze Cuckoo (('. ba.mhsj. 



All Ephtliianuras are gi-egarioiis ; at times one sees them in large 

 flocks. About the middle of April, one season (1894), Mr. C. C. 

 Brittlebank observed an luiusually large flock, which must have contained 

 over 200 birds. Are the birds to bo considered a stationaiy species, or 

 are they partial migi-ants? On the 20th May, 1899, in the Mallee 

 country, Mr. Chas. McLennan saw a similar flock, in virhich he estimated 

 there were between 400 and 500 birds. 



Mr. Henry Lidgett (Myrniong) has thoughtfully sent me a late note 

 mentioning that many \\niite-fronted Bush Chats wore breeding during 

 July and Augti.st among thistles, and that one nest contained the 

 unusual complement of five eggs. 



