NESTS AND LGCS OF M'STNM.IAN /i/A'DS. ^:^- 



Tlie description I have given of the eggs is from specimens in 

 Mr. Keartland's collection. 



Mr. Kcartland renewed this bird's acquaintance near Lake Augusta, 

 West Australia, when a mated pair was shot. On splitting a log from 

 whence one of them flew, a nest nearly ready for eggs was discovered. 



Sub-family — SittiN/E. 



277. — SiTTELLA CHRYSOPTEHA, Latham. — (373) 



ORANGE-WINGED TREE RUNNER. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol , vol. iv , pi loi. 



Reference— CsX. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. viii , p. 360 



Previous Dfscn pi ions 0/ Eggs— CampbeU : Southern Science Record (1883) ; 



also Nest and Eggs Australian Birds, pi. i., %. 373 (1883) ; North : 



Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 240 (1SS9). 



Geographical Distribiilian. — Queensland, Now South Wales, Victori.i 

 and South Australia. 



Nenf. — Small, neat, open, upright, with sharply edged rim ; composed 

 almost entirely of spidci-s' webs and cocoons, which give the structure 

 an clastic tendency ; outwardly coated with small shields of greyish 

 bark, assimilating the appearance of the fork in which the nest is 

 placed ; inside deep, lined with soft bark and cocoons ; usually situ- 

 ated in a forked, dead branch, but sometimes on a living limb, near the 

 lop of a tree. Dimensions over all, 2^, inches by about 2A inches in 

 depth to the prong of the branch; egg cavity, I'j inches across by 

 IJ inch deep. 



Ef/f/t. — Clutch, three to four, mostly three ; roundish in shape, or 

 sharply compressed at one end ; texture of shell fine ; surface glossy ; 

 colour, greyish-white, boldly spotted and blotched with olive and slate. 

 Dimensions in inches of a pair : (1) -7 x -53, (2) -68 x -54. (Plate 13.) 



Observations. — It is interesting to note, as Gould has pointed out, 

 that the genus Sittella contains the Australian representatives of the 

 Nuthatches of the northern part of the Old and New World. One sees 

 the family likeness in the pert little Sittcllas. This bird's bill is well 

 adapted for its work, being nearly as fine as .a needle at the point, and 

 veiy slightly upturned. Its coat is greyish, with a striped appearance 

 derived from a dark-brown streak down each feather, under-surface 

 light>grey, while it receives its vernacular name from the broad patch 

 of rich rufous or orange across each wing. These orange-colom-ed 

 patches arc most conspicuously seen when the bird darts from tree to 

 tree. 



The true home of the Orange-winged Sittella or Tree Runner is 

 Eastern Australia, where it is not uncommon. It is ,t lover, of course, 

 22 



