344 A'/:.S7'.V A.VD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Eyys. — Ulutcli, three; inclined to oval in shape; texture of shell 

 fine ; surface glossy ; colour, pearly or bluish-white, blotched, chiefly 

 about the upper quarter, with sepia and slate. Dimensions of the 

 type clutch: (1) -7 x -53, (2) -7 x -52, (3) -69 x -51. 



Ohxervations. — This fine northern species was fii-st collected by 

 Mr. Cockerell on the Cape York Peninsula. The well-defined black 

 head of some of the birds suggests that they are the males, but the 

 point has to be settled. Black-headed Tree Runner might have been 

 a more appropriate name for the species. 



Mr. Dudley Lc Souef first brought to scientific light a beautiful 

 nest and three eggs of the Striated Sittella, which were found by 

 Mr. R. Hislop, in the Bloomfield River district, Northern Queensland 

 The nest was built between the upright fork of a eucalyptus branch, 

 and, as is usually the case with the nests of tliis family of birds, was 

 exceedingly difficult to detect. 



FAMILY— NECTARINIID^ : SUN BIRDS. 



284. — CiNNYRis FRENATA, Mullcr. (359) 



SUN BIRD. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol. supp . pi. 45. 



Reference. — Cat Birds Brit. Mas., vol. ix., p. 85. 



Previous Descriptions 0/ iiggs. — Kamsay :' Ibis, vol. i,, new ser., (1865); 

 Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., supp. (i86g) : Campbell : Southern 

 Science Record (1883); North: Austn. Mus. Cat., app. (i8go). 



Geographical Dixtrihutwii. — North Queensland and New Guinea; 

 also Pajjuan Islands, Moluccas and Celebes. 



Nest. — Long, oval, with a well defined tail and side entrance, some- 

 times hooded ; composed of pieces and shreds of bark (melaleuca 

 chiefly) or fibre-like portions of dead leaves and spiders' cocoons well 

 matted together, and coated outwaa-dly with strings of the droppings 

 of wood-eating insects or caterpillars, the tail being composed chiefly 

 of the strings of droppings, wliich are hung together by means of 

 cob-web ; inside well lined with a wliitish downy substance ; usually 

 suspended to a twig or foUage of a bush or low tree. Dimensions : 

 body 7 inches long, tail varying from 2 to 5 inches additional ; broadest 

 part 2| inches ; entrance, wliich is about the centre of the body of the 

 nest or 3 inches from the top, | inch across. 



Eggs. — Clutch, two; lengthened in form, tapering towards one end ; 

 texture very fine ; surface has slight trace of gloss ; colour, light 

 greenish-grey, blotched or mottled all over (in some examples so closely 

 as to almost liide the ground-colour), thickest on the larger end, with 



