A'ESTS AXD hGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 571 



bird had carried the egg about for a considerable time, and, being 

 unable to find a suitable nest, had simply swallowed it. 



By jJermission, I quote the following notes from the diary of the 

 Rev. H. T. Hull, Tasmajiia: — 



" 6th October, 1877. — Found nest of Acanthi:a diemenensis, with 

 egg of Cacomantii flahelHformis. The three eggs of Acanthiza were 

 all dented, as if the larger egg had been roughly deposited on the top 

 of them." 



" 15th November. — Found nest of Acanthiza diciiienensis, two eggs 

 broken, with yoimg far advanced, but dead ; fresh egg of Cuckoo 

 (fla hell ifti rm i" }.' 



During my own visit to Tasmania, October, 1883, the overseer at 

 Ridgeside brought imder my notice a nest of tlie Tasmaiiian Tit 

 ( Acanthiza J, in a gorse hedge, from which he had just abstracted the 

 egg of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo. The building of the nest had apparently 

 just been completed, and was used iirst by the Cuckoo. And, strange 

 to relate, although the entrance of the nest was enlarged by the over- 

 seer to abstract the Cuckoo's egg, the enlargement did not offend the 

 httle Tit, because three days afterwards she laid her first egg, and my 

 subsequent visits to tlie nest proved that she finished her com- 

 plement. 



Another note I made on the mainland during an excursion of the 

 Field Naturalists' Club, reads thus :—" 15.10.92— Wandong.— Egg of 

 Fan-tailed Cuckoo in Tit's (Acanthiza ) nest, witli one egg of the Tit. 

 Eggs could be seen from outside. Evidently the entrance had been 

 somewhat enlarged, jxissibly by the head of the Cuckoo, when deposit- 

 ing the egg." 



The following letter appeared in the Victorian XaturaJist, December, 

 1891, above the name of C. French, jun. ; — 



" A friend of mine, living near Oakleigh, informs me that one day, 

 when out collecting, he came across a nest of the White-eared Honey- 

 eater (P. Icucotis j, ready for eggs, and on \'isiting the same nest the 

 following day, it contained an egg of the PalHd Cuckoo (C . pallidus), 

 which he left, thinking the Honeyeater would lay shortly ; but on his 

 retm-n the third day, he found that the egg of the Palhd Cuckoo had 

 been thrown out of the nesti by the Fan-tailed Cuckoo (C. ftaheUiformis), 

 and she had laid an egg in tlie nest. The Honeyeater deserted the 

 nest. This is the second time mv friend has noticed this same pro- 

 ceeding." 



This is an exceedingly interesting note, for i-arely does the Fan-tailed 

 Cuckoo deposit its egg in an open nest. However, three other instances 

 were observed by Mr. A. E. Brent, Tasmania, where the Fan-tailed 

 Cuckoo is particularly partial to the covered nests of the Scrub Wren 

 fS. hit mil is). They occun-ed respectively in the open nests of the 

 Black-capped Honeyeater (3f. melaiiorephfilKK ), the Duskv Robin 

 (P. vittata). and the" Wood Swallow (A. >:ordiJiiK). 



In Tasmania, a fresh egg of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo was found 

 deposited on a bare stump. Doubtless it had been laid there by the 

 bird, which was probably disturbed before it could convey it away to 

 some suitable nest. 



