342 



/ViVST.V A.\'D hGGS Oh' AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



of this lulerosting genus. But in tho case of the Black-capped two 

 birds actually laid in the one nest and were incubating together. 

 1 do not recollect another similar incident among all the birds of 

 Australia. 



Mr. Macdougall again writes; — "The nests of SiUella pi/eata arc 

 so ingeniously hidden tljat they are rarely found. I had the good 

 foi-time this year (1886) to find two by watching the birds. The first 

 was m a tea-tree (Me/a/nira cririfolia ), which kind, with she-oaks 

 (Casiiarina ), form oiu- scrub. Found 7th October. The second nest 

 was foiuid 21st October. I took the four eggs, as you desired the 

 whole clutch. Yesterday I sawed the nest down and sent it Ukcwise." 



During a trip to the Wimmera district, September, 1899, I noticed 

 tliree adult Black-capped Tree Runners feeding three young birds in a 

 nest built in a bull-oak. 



Breeding season end of Augfust to November or December. 



281. SlTIELLA TENUIROSTRIS, Gould. 



SLENDER-BILLED TREE RUNNER. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. viii., p. 363. 

 Previous Description of Eggs. — Ramsay; Proc. Linn Soc , NS, Wales, 

 vol. i., 2nd ser., p. 1149 (1886). 



Geograjifiical Diitrihution. — New South Wales and South Avistralia. 



Nest. — A very beautiful structiu'e, placed often between the vipright 

 forks of a dead branch ; it is very deep, open above, the edges sharp, 

 not rounded, and composed of fine shreds of bark, lichens, and cob-web, 

 the outside felted or " shingled " with small scales of bark fastened on 

 with cob-webs, and made to resemble the sides of the forked branch 

 between which it is placed, so that detection is most difficult ; tho 

 interior is usually lined with " mouse-eared " lichen, which the coloiu- 

 of the eggs closely resembles (Ramsay). 



Egg^. — Clutch three, seldom four ; colour, delicate greenish-white, 

 with dots and confluent irregular markings of slaty-lilac and slate-black, 

 the lilac freckles appearing beneath the shell, in some forming a zone 

 of larger spots near the thicker end, in others the spots are nearly 

 evenly dispersed over the whole surface. Dimensions in inches ; 

 (1) -68 X -55, (2) -66 x -53, (3) -63 x -55, (4) -62 x -52 (Ramsay). 



Ohservations. — This somewhat " Slender " species, so far as is known, 

 is restricted to the interior, where it probably takes the place of the 

 Orange-winged Tree Runner. 



Gould records : — " I possess a somewhat mutilated specimen of 

 Sittella which was given me by Captain Stiu't, but I am luiaware of the 

 locality in which it wa« obtained. Tliis bird, which I feel assured is 

 a new species, is very nearly allied to S. rhry.^optcrd, but differs from it 



