324 



NESTS AND EGGS OF AVSTKAT.IAN BIRDS. 



Nest. — Ciip-sliaped, somewhat frail ; composed of grass, fine twigs, 

 &c. ; inside lined with fine grass. Dimensions over all, 3A inches by 

 2 inches in depth; egg cavity, 2 inches across by 1|^ inches deep. 



Eggs. — Clutch, two to three ; round oval in form ; texture of shell 

 fine ; surface glossy ; colour, olive, with a belt of markings round the 

 upper quarter of olive and dull, dark-grey. Dimensions in inches of a 

 proper clutch : (1) -84 x -65, (2) -82 x -64, (3) -82 x -64. (Plate 12.) 



Similar to those of P. riifiventris, but smaller in size and darker in 

 the ground colour. 



Ohservatuins. — As Gould has pointed out, this species of Thickhead, 

 wliicli inhabits the northern parts of Austraha is a beautiful represen- 

 tative of the Rufous-breasted Tliickhead of the southern parts of the 

 Continent, from which it differs in its much smaller size, and in the black 

 crescent which bounds the white throat of the male not extending 

 upwards to the ear-coverts, which part, with the lores, is grey. All 

 that Gould mentions of its nidification is that the bird breeds in 

 September and the two following months, and lays two eggs. 



Mr. W. Wliite informed me he possessed eggs of this Thick- 

 head; but it was left to Mr. D. Le Souef to first describe the nest and 

 eggs, collected by Mr. R. Hislop, Northern Queensland, 11th November, 

 1895. The nest, which I had the opportunity of examining together 

 with the parents which were shot, wa.s found about twelve feet from 

 the ground in a thick bush. 



With I'eference to Dr. Ramsay's species, P. pallida, and the species 

 under consideration, that author says : " A large series of birds seems to 

 prove that they are one and the same species. P. jxdlida may be a 

 bleached specimen of P. falcata, not well described by Govild. " 



263. — Pachycephala rufiventris, Latham. — (116) 



RUFOUS-BREASTED THICKHEAD. 



Figure. —Gould : Birds of Australia, fol-, vol ii., pi. 67, 



Reference, — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus,, vol. viii., p. 20S. 



.Previous Descriptions of Eg^s.— Gould : Birds of Australia (1848) ; also 



Handbook, vol. i., p. 213 (1S65) ; North : Austn. Mus. Cat , p. 67, 



pi. 12, fig. II (iSSg). 



Geographical Distrihution. — Australia in general. 



Nest. — Cup-shaped, neat, , sometimes frail, composed of fine twigs 

 and grasses, with a small admixture of spiders' web, lined inside with 

 brownish wire-like rootlets or fine gi-ass, and usually placed well out of 

 reach in a bushy tree or sapling. Dimensions over all, 3^ inches by 2i 

 inches in depth; egg cavity, 2i inches across by 1| inches deep. 



Eggs. — Clutch, three, rarely four; inclined to oval in shape, or more 

 pointed at one end ; textiu-e of shell fine ; surface glossy ; colour, pale 

 or duU-olive, with a darker shade round the apex, where is also a belt 



