284 NESTS AXD EGGS 01' AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



231. — Ephtiiianura tricolor, Gould. — (233) 



TRICOLOURED BUSH CHAT. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iii., pi. 66. 



Refsntice. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. vii., p. 667. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Ramsay : Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S. Wales, 



vol. vii., p. 48 {1882) ; Campbell : Southern Science Record (1882) ; 



North: Austn. Mus. Cat., pi. 13, fig. 12 (1889). 



Geixjraphical Distribution. — Australia iii general. 



Nest. — Cup-shaped ; somewhat Uglitly constructed of portions of dry 

 grass with a few fine twigs added ; Uned inside sparingly with yellowish 

 rootlets and a few long horse-hairs. Usually placed in a low shrub on 

 saltbush, etc., plains, where the birds sometimes nest in small colonies 

 and in company with the Orange-fronted Chat (E. aurifrons). 

 Dimensions over all, 'i\ inches by 2 inches in depth ; egg cavity, 2 inches 

 across by 1^ inches deep. 



Eggs. — Clutch, three to four ; inclining to a short oval in form ; 

 texture of shell fine, surface slightly glossy ; colour white, spaiingly but 

 distinctly spotted with reddish-brown and piu-plish-brown. These eggs 

 are usually smaller and less numerously marked than those of the other 

 two varieties described. Dimensions in inches of a proper clutch : 

 (1) -68 X -5, (2) -65 X -49, (3) -62 x -48. 



Ob.fervations. — The Tricoloured Ephthianura or Bush Chat is one of 

 the most beautiful birds of the inland provinces, more especially of the 

 great interior. It is found at seasons right across the Continent, as I 

 some yeai-s ago received a specimen from Mr. Tom Carter, shot by him 

 near the North-west Cape. Subsequently they were observed by the 

 Calvert Expedition in the North-west desert, even in the driest parts. 

 Singularly enough one season a flock of Tricoloured Chats appeared on 

 the YaiTa flats near Healesville, where they were observed by Mr. 

 Lindsay Clark. 



In IS.'jG, at Cape Otway, Mr. H. W. Ford, F.G.S., saw a flock of 

 E. tririi/iir coming from eastward, appearing tired. They settled on a 

 tree, and he (then a boy) endoavoiu-ed to knock one down with a stick 

 to examine what was to liim a new bird. 



Quoting Mr. Angas, a coiTespondent, Gould says, " A nest and eggs 

 of the Tricoloured Ephthianiua were taken on the 27th October, 1862, 

 in a low bush at Evandalc, about three miles from Collingrove, 

 Angaston, South Australia.' It does not appear that this nest and 

 eggs were ever described, leaving it to Dr. Ramsay and myself 

 almost simultaneously to desciibe the eggs of this species twenty years 

 afterwards. Mr. Price Fletcher, the " Bush Naturalist " of the 

 " Queenslander," in the issue of the 30th November, 1878, gives an 

 interesting account of Eptliianuras, especially of the Tricoloured. from 

 his own field observations in the far interior. 



Mr. Fletcher says, " There is only one other species of tliese birds 

 known, that is the rare axid extremely beautiful E. tricolor. The 



