NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN H/KDS. 33,^ 



278. SiTTELLA LEUCOCEPHALA, Goukl. — (374) 



WHITE-HEADED TREE RUNNER 



Figure .—GoVi\i\ : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iv., pi 102 



Rtfertiici. — Cat Birds Brit Mus., vol viii., p. 361 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. - Campbell : Victorian Naturalist (188C) ; 



id. Southern Science Record (1886); North; Austn Mus Cat , 



p. 242 {1889). 



Geographical Dixtrilnitioii . — South Qiioonsland and Now Soutli 

 Wales. 



Nest. — Neat, small, open, upright ; composed of spiders' webs and 

 cocoons, covered outwardly with small pieces of greyish bark placed 

 parallel with and resembling the figure of the bark of the branch holding 

 the nest — altogether a wonderful piece of mimicry both as regards colour 

 and foiTO of the nest ; inside deep and lined with soft bark, spider and 

 other insect cocoons. Usually situated in an upright, dead, forked 

 branch near the top of a tree. The nest has an elastic tendency, and 

 when removed from its resting-place readily contracts. Dimensions 

 over all, 2} inches by 2i inches in depth (or to the prong of the 

 branch): egg cavitv, \h inches across by \\ inches deep. 



Eggs. — Clutch, three ; roundish in form ; texture of shell fine ; 

 surface glossy ; colour, greyish-white, boldly blotched and spotted with 

 sepia and slate. The eggs of the various .species of Sitfella- are almost 

 inseparable from each other as far as appearance goes. Rut the eggs of 

 the White-headed bird are slightly smaller than those of the southern 

 forms. Dimensions in inches of a proper pair: (1) -63 x -51 (2) -62 x -5. 



Oh.tervatiiinx. — This .sprightly Sittella is at home in the more inland 

 portions of Southern Queensland, but it also frequents the northern 

 parts of New South Wales. It is readily separated from its southern 

 congeners bv the pure white colouring of the head, hence its appropriate 

 vernacular name : but the Pied Tree Runner has also a white head. 



During my brief sojourn at Coomooboolaroo (Q.), October, 1885, most 

 unfortunately I found the countiy suffering from the visitation of a 

 disastrous drought. Tlie cattle dead and dying on the station had a 

 depressing effect on a stranger's feelings. What must it have been to 

 the owners. Mr. George Barnard and his sons? As a matter of coiu-se, 

 and although the breeding season for birds had fairly commenced, 

 numerous species had not laid. Nothing has such a retarding tendency 

 on the breeding instincts of birds as a droughty season. 



However, strolling alone one day on the margin of a dry Brigalow 

 scrub, I noticed some Wliite-headed Tree Runners attentively examining 

 or working at what appeared to be a notch on a dead topmost branch. 

 This notch on closer inspection I foimd to be a nest which the little birds 

 were constructing. This was encouraging, for the nest and eggs of this 

 species had not yet been described. A further search in another direc- 

 tion discovered a second nest also in the course of construction, I left 



