NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTKACIAN BIRDS. 585 



tory ;iiid North Quoousland ; also New Giiiuea, Solomon Islands, Flores, 

 Boraeo, Philippuie Islajids, Java, and Malayan Peninsiila. 



Eygs. — (Reputed.) Similar to those of V. p/ayusus, but darker or 

 more bronzy in colour. Dimensions in inches : (1) '76 x -56, (2) '73 x '52. 



Observation^. — Little appears to be known of the smallest species of 

 our beautiful Bronze Cuckoos, which frequents the northern parts of 

 Australia. 



In a measure, I agree with Mr. North that the Cuckoos' eggs found 

 in certain northern bii'ds' nests may be those of the C . maJayanus, but 

 there is nothing to prove that they are not really the eggs of 

 C. poscilurus, another northern variety of the Bronze Cuckoos. 



Dr. Ramsay's original description in the " Proceedings of the Zoo- 

 logical Society " (1875) is very meagre, merely stating that a bronze- 

 coloured egg, beUeved to be that of C. minutillus (malayanusj, was 

 obtained from a species of Gei-ygone's nest. 



Nearly twenty years afterwards, Mr. North writes : — " For some 

 yeai-s past, Mr. Boyd (Herbert River, Queensland) has found a 

 dark bronze-coloiu'ed egg of a Cuckoo in the nest of Gerygone 

 magniruatris, varying considerably from the well-known egg of 

 C. plagosus, and which I referred to when describing the nest 

 and eggs of G. magnirostris in the ' Ibis ' last year (1893). 

 Recently, Mr. Boyd has foi-warded two spirit specimens of 

 the Cuckoos frequenting the vicinity of where these bronze- 

 coloured eggs were deposited. One is the adult male of C. 

 mahiyaiiua, the other a young male of C'aconianiis castqneiventris. 

 Now, judging from analogy, one would reasonably expect to find the 

 egg of the latter species of the same type as G. flahelliformis and 

 C. insperafus ( variolosus), and I have little hesitation in provisionally 

 referring the Cuckoos' eggs foiuid in the nests of the Girygoiu moijiti- 

 ro-btri.-! as belonging to C. innhiydiiux, until Mr. Boyd has an opportunity 

 of watcliing one of those Cuckoos' eggs hatched by the foster-parent, and 

 conclusively pro\ang to which species the young bird belongs. " 



Mr. Dudley Le Souef and Mr. W. B. Barnard have found similar 

 eggs in the nests of the Large-billed Fly Eater, or Gerygone tnagni- 

 ro-itris, in the Bloomfield River scrubs. The former collector also 

 reports the Masked Fly Eater (G. pfr.'tonaUi ) as a foster-parent of the 

 same Cuckoo, whilst Mr. R. Hislop has observed the strange egg in 

 the nest of the Lovely Wren (Miliums amahilis). In nearly every 

 instance there were two eggs of the foster-parent in the nest with the 

 Cuckoo's egg. 



In the extreme north, at Cape York, Mi-. HaiTy Barnard found 

 these eggs in the nests of Masked Fly Eaters towards the end of 

 November, 1896 ; but, as I have previously mentioned, the parasitical 

 eggs ai-e just as likely to be those of C. p«cilurui< as C. malayanus. 

 F^r it must be remembered that Gould's type of C. russatus (pcecilurusj 

 came from Cape York. 



