NESTS AMD EGGS OF AVSTKAUAN BIRDS. 



577 



As far as my data go, tlie following species are among the foster- 

 birds of the Narrow-billed Bronze Cuckoo : — 



Vernacular Name. 



White-shafted Fantail 

 Blue Wren 

 Long-tailed Wren 

 Orange-backed ,, 

 Red-backed 

 Black-backed ,, 

 White-winged ,, 

 Yellow rumped Tit 

 Bufl-rumped ,, 

 Brown-rumped (Tasmanian) 



Tit 



Striated Tit 



Little 



Brown ,, 



Scarlet-breasted Robin 



Red-capped .... 



White-browed Scrub Wren . . 



Yellow-throated 



Large-billed 



Short-billed Tree Tit . . 



Grass Warbler . . 



White-fronted Bush Chat 



Tricoloured 



Little Field Wren 



Striated Field Wren . . 



White I'ace 



New Holland Hoiieyeater 



White-cheeked ,, 



White Eye 



Red-browed Finch 

 Orange- winged T'ee Runner. 

 Emu Wren 

 Southern Fly Eater 

 Chestnut-eared Finch . . 



Scientific Namk. 



Rhipidura albiscapa 

 Malurus cyaneus . . 

 M. gouldi . . 

 M. melanocephalus 

 M. dorsalis 

 M. melanotus 

 M. leucopterus 

 Acanthiza chrysorrhoea 

 .\ reguloides 



By whom First 



Recorded or 



Reported. 



G. E. Shepherd 



E. P. Ramsay 



Gould 



H. Barnard 



G. A. Heartland 



A, j. North 



A J.C. 



E. P Ramsay 



A diemenensis 

 A lineata 

 A nana 

 A. pusilla 

 Petra-ca leggii 

 P goodenovii 

 Sericornis frontalis 

 S. citreogularis 

 S. magnirostris 

 Smicrornis brevirostris . . 

 Cisticola ruficeps . . 

 Ephthianura albifrons 

 E. tricolor .. 

 Chthonicola sagittata 

 Calamanthus fuliginosus 



Xerophila leucopsis 

 Meliornis novas-hollandia' 

 M. sericea . . 

 Zosterops coerulescens 

 -i-Egintha temporalis 

 S. chrysoptera 

 Stipiturus malachurus .. 

 Gerygone culicivora 

 T. castanotis 



Gould 



A y. North 



E. P. Ramsay 



A J. North 



A J. C. 



A. J.C. (Kent Group) 



Hermann Lau 



A. J. North 



G. A, Keartland 



J. T. Gillespie 



T. Carter 



R. Hall 



C. French, jun and 



party 

 R. Hall 

 A, ] North 

 E P. Rams.iy 

 A. J. North 

 E. Cornwall 

 G. E. Shepherd 

 Campbell-Shepherd 

 A. G. Campbell 

 Hall-Cameron 



The instance of the egg of this Cuckoo being found in the nest of 

 the Tricoloured Chat, in Western Australia, is of additional interest 

 from the fact that it was taken on the 5th March (1898), — a most 

 unusual month. 



It is rare to find two species of Cuckoo in the same foster-bird's 

 nest. Once I found a nest of the Tit ( Acanthi-.n chrt/xorrliad ), con- 

 taining three eggs, besides an egg each of the two Bronze Cuckoos. If 

 these two lively youngsters had been hatched, I suppose it woidd have 

 been a case of " the survival of the fittest." However, Dr. Ramsay can 

 go one better. In 1856, from a nest of the Little Tit (Acanthiza nana), 

 he took no less than six eggs — three belonging to the Tit, and three to 

 the Bronze Cvickoos — two of C. phiyot^ux, and one of C . haxulis. 



As we saw in om- observations on the Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Mr. A. E. 

 Brent can score one higher still as far a.s Cuckoos' eggs are concerned, 

 for, in a httle Tasmanian Tit's (Acanthiza) nest, he took the eggs of no 

 less than three species — namely, the Fan-tailed, Bronze, and Narrow- 

 billed Bronze Cuckoos. 

 37 



