\ESTS AXD EGGS 01- AUSTRAUA.W BIRDS. 31^ 



When in tluit district I paid especial attention to the Yellow-breasted 

 Thickhead inhabiting tlio Hiigalow (a species of acacia) sciiibs where Dr. 

 Riunsav's specimens came from, and could see no appreciable difference 

 (except that it appeared a slightly smaller bird) between the species 

 there found and the common Thickhead (P. giitfiiralis) of elsewhere. 

 However, I bow to Dr. Ramsay's judgment in this matter, and by su 

 doing save reducing by one the number of species in my collection. 

 According to Dr. Sharpe, I fear Mr. Master's /■". rohusta must 

 sink as a synonym in favovu- of the Black-tailed Thickhead ( F. inelaiiurii ). 

 Mr. Dudley Le Souef coiTobcratcs Dr. Ramsay's statement about 

 the vei-y frail nest built by this variety. During a collecting trip to 

 Coomooboolaroo, September, 1893, Mr. Le Souef notes : " In a close 

 bush we found the nest and egg of the Bluk-tailed Thickhead fP. 

 melnimrn ), but the stnicture was so slightly built that the egg was in 

 danger of falling out." On the same station a nest containing three 

 eggs was found at mid-%vinter (24th June, 1889). 



259. — P.\.CHYCEPHALA GUTTURALis, Latham. — (113) 

 WHITE-THROATED THICKHEiVD. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus , vol. viii , p. 192. 



Previous Descriptions of £gi,'s. —Campbell : Southern Science Record (1882) ; ■ 



also Geelong Naturalist (i8g6) ; North : Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 64, 



pi. 12, fig. 9 (1889), 



Geugraphiral Distrihufiim. — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria 

 and South Australia, also Lord Howe Island. 



Nest — Oup-shaped ; composed chiefly of shreds of bark and fine 

 dark-coloured t\vigs, neatly lined inside with finer twigs, rootlets, and 

 sometimes portions of fine grass, and placed usually a few feet from the 

 ground in a tliick bush in a gully, or in a sci-ub near a stream. Dimen- 

 sions over all, about 5 inches by 2.1 inches in depth ; egg cavity, 2i inches 

 across by IJ inches deep. 



Egffs. — Clutch, two to thi-ee ; oval in shape, occasionally roimdish 

 oval ; textm-e of shell fine, with glossy surface ; colour, yellowish- 

 white, speckled particularly about the upper quarter with spots of dark 

 brown or umber, intenningled with duller markings which appear as if 

 beneath the surface of the shell. In some rare instances the gi-ound 

 colour has a pinkish tint with the markings reddish-brown and dull 

 purple or slate, Altogether resembling a Honev-eater type. Dimensions 

 in inches of a proper clutch : (1) -91 x -68, (2) -9 x -67, (3) -9 x -GS ; of a 

 pinkish set: (1) -92 x -69, (2) -88 x -71. (Plate 12.) 



0/iservatioin. — The beautiful White-throated Thickhead is a true 

 scrub or forest-loving bird, its clear, sweet voice being oftener heard 

 amongst the flowering eucalypts than the vocalist itself is seen. 



