322 NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



l)y the beautiful-leafed eucalypt (E. calojihylln), I frequently observed 

 this lovi'ly bird, whose golden breast vied in colour with the acacia's 

 bloom. The male bird stands a perfect lover as he calls " sweet " to his 

 grey-coloured mate in another tree. She answers lovingly in identical 

 note, " sweet." 



Gould regarded the Western and Eastern White-throated Thickheads 

 as possibly identical, while Dr. Ramsay in his " Remai'ks ' on his 

 " Tabular List," states : " Finding it necessary to separate the Yellow- 

 breasted Pachyccpliala of Western Australia from that of New South 

 Wjiles, I embrace the present opportunity of stating my reasons for so 

 doing, and of pointing out the differences between these two species. 

 While lately examining a large series of rdrhrjnjilKila from various 

 parts of Australia, my attention was drawn by Mr. Masters to the deep 

 rufous tint on the under surface of the females of the western examples 

 of the so-called /•". f/ittf urn/in ; and after compai'iug a very large number 

 of specimens from both New South Wales and Western Australia, 1 

 have come to the conclusion that, although closely alUed, they are 

 .specifically distinct. Mr. Gould's description and the plate of the 7'. 

 (/ut/iirah's in his work have evidently been taken from western examples, 

 from which the Tardiix (juttvralin of Latham may be easily distinguished." 



The nest and eggs of the Western Thickhead above described I took 

 at Kan-idale, Western Australia, 28th October, 1889. The structure 

 was securely placed amongst the curious seed pods of a hakea branch. 



The chief breeding months are September, October, and November. 



261. — Pachycephala glaucura, Gould. — (114) 



GREY-TAILED THICKHEAD. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, (ol., vol. ii., pi. 65 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. viii., p. 194. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. Campbell: Southern Science Record 



(1882) and Nests and Eg^'s Austn. Birds, pi, i,, fig. 114 (1883) ; 



alsoGeelong, Naturalist (1S96) ; North : Austn. Mus, Cat., p. 66 



(1899), 



Geocjraphirdl Di.^frihii.finn. — Tasmania .nnd .some of the islands in 

 Bass Strait. 



Nest. — Larger and more bulky than those of the other Yellow- 

 breasted Thickheads, composed of small twigs, sometimes strips of bark 

 with dead leaves (sonu^ skeleton), and casuaiina needles added, lined 

 inside with fine dry gi-ass, rootlets, &c., and placed in a bush or low tree 

 in thick scrub. Dimensions over all, 5 or 6 inches by 3 inches in depth ; 

 egg cavity, 2f^ inches across by li inches deep. 



Effg.^. — Clutch, two to three, occasionally four ; inclined to oval in 

 shape, diminishing in a pretty curve from the upper quarter to the apex, 

 which is, in some instances, sharper than the bottom end of the (^g^\ 



