446 



NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



brother, Mr. W. R. G. Campbell, I believe, took the first authenticated 

 nest of this species in the mallee (a species of dwarf cucalypt) sci-ub in 

 the Wimmora district, Victoria. Subsequently, on the 21st October, 

 1884, I took another nest in the same locality. The tunnel extended 

 for twenty-two or twenty-three inches, whilst the nest itself was about 

 ten inches below the surface of the gi'ound. 



Unlike the previous species, the Spotted, the Yellow-nimped Par- 

 da lote commences to burrow on the flat siuface of the ground under 

 shelter of the mallee, instead of selecting a perpendicuku- or oven 

 inclined bank. 



Probably the first person to recognise this pretty Pardalote as a 

 new species was Mr. William White, Reed-beds, South Australia. 

 Further inland, Mr. Samuel White procured others and sent specimens 

 to Gould in 1865. Gould intended dedicating the bird to Mr. White, 

 but on account of its extieme beauty he afterwards thought to name 

 it after Queen Victoria. In the meantime, however, he was anticipated 

 by Professor McCoy's descriptive title, Tanthopygius. 



The breeding months are chiefly September, October, and 

 November. One extraordinary season Mr. C. McLennan took eggs 

 in March, June, July, and August (1899). The same season, in Sep- 

 tember, I chanced to find a nest near a bush track in the Mallee. 

 It was 4 inches in diameter, and only 4 inches from the suiface of the 

 sandy soil. The little tunnel was 14 inches in length, having an oblong 

 entrance ;^ by 1 inch across. 



373. — Pardalotu8 rubricatus, Gould.— (82) 

 RED-BROWED PARDALOTE. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, £ol., vol. ii., pi. 36. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. x., p. 60. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Ramsay : Proc. Zool. Soc, p. 350 

 (1877); Ramsay: Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S. Wales, vol. ii., 

 p. no (1878); Campbell: Geelong Naturalist, vol. iv., p. 61 

 (<895)- 



Geographical Dintrihutinn. — Northern Territory, Queensland, New 

 South Wales, South, West, and North-west Australia. 



Nexf. — Similar in constniction and situation to those described of 

 P. punrfafiix and P. melanocephalus. 



Ef/f/s:. — Clutch, tlu-ee to four ; inclined to oval in foiin ; texture of 

 shell fine ; colour, piu'e white, with surface slightly glossy. Dimensions 

 in inches: (1) -78 X -55, (2) '74 X -55. 



Ohservafiniis. — The Red-browed Pardalote is the largest of its genus, 

 arid enjoys a somewhat extensive range across the northern part of 

 Australia, besides dipping a good way south into the gi'eat interior 

 province. Mr. Tom Carter found it in the region of the Nortli-west 



