i;3-j rKiiisiKniii.K. 



\'i< toria I met with this species ainon,^; the tea-tree scrub, on tlie eastern shores of I'ort PhiUip 

 Bay, between I'ranlistnii and Sciinapper Point. 



In habits it so closely resembles the common lironze-winL;, that it is unnecessary to here 

 repeat af,'ain what has been said ol that species, although unlike that l'i<^i-on it is not so eaf^crly 

 sought after as a table bird. 



From Copnianhurst, New Sinith Wales, Mr. G. Savidi,'e wrote: — " The Puush Bronze-wing 

 {Phcif>s tlcf^niis) I ha\e seen about Vamba and the coast distiiit, but have never obser\ed it as 

 far inland as Cjrafton or Copnianhurst." 



Mr. G. A. Keartland wrote me as follows from Melbourne, X'ictoria : — " The Brush Bronze- 

 wint; (I'haps dedans), although slightly smaller in size and more rounded in the wing than the 

 common Bronze-wing, is a faster flier. These birds are partial to tea-tree scrub and ironbark 

 forest. I have shot tliein at Mulgrave, near Melbourne, and Mount Moliagui, near Tarnagulla, 

 Victoria. Their habits are siiuilar t(j those of I'haps chnlcnf^ti-rii." 



Mr. Tom Carter sends the following notes from 13roome Hill, Western Australia: — "The 

 Brush fjronze-wing (Pliaps t-li-<;iiiis) occurs along the coast, and I have never met with it inland 

 as yet. I have noted its presence along the south-west coast from Cape Naturalise to .Albany, 

 but ne^er saw it in the north-west. A nest was noted near Albany on March 7, 1908. On the 

 Margaret River, I was told, the breeding season is in December." 



The nest is an open and slightly cupped-shaped structure, formed of long thin sticks or 

 twigs, varying somewhat in materials, according to the position in which it is built. When built 

 on the horizontal branch of a tree, the thin sticks are shorter, but when built on the ground 

 under a bush or low Grass-tree, the twigs are usually longer, thinner and more interwo\en. An 

 average nest taken at l^antry liay. Middle Harbour, from the latter position, measures externally 

 seven inches in width by two inches in depth. When built near the coast MchUcuca and Banksia 

 are often resorted to as nesting sites, sometimes most exposed situations being selected, one Mr. 

 C. G. Johnston found, containing two young ones, was built on a branch of an isolated Banksta, 

 leaning over a gorge. 



The eggs are two in number for a sitting, elliptical in form, pure white, the shell being close- 

 grained, smooth and fairly lustrous. A set of two in the Australian Museum Collection, taken 

 at the Cascades, near Hobart, Tasmania, on the !5tli April, 1895, nieasures : — Length (A) 1-36 

 X I inches; (B) i-2i x d'9S inches. A set of two talcen at Narrabeen on the 15th August, 

 1905, measures : -Length (A) 1-35 x 0-99 inches; (l\) i'33 >^ 0-98 inches. A set of two taken 

 at Bantry l'>ay. Middle Harbour, on thefith January, 1900, measures: — Length (A) 1-29 x 0-97 

 inches; (B) 1-3 x 0-97 inches. A set of two taken on the 15th November, 1908, at Austin's 

 I'"erry, Tasmania, measures; — Length (A) 1-29 x 0-95 inches; (B) 1-21 x 0-97 inches. 



Young birds taken from the nest thrive well in conhnement. Immature tnales resemble 

 the adults, but have the hind-neck and upper back light olive-brown instead of chestnut, and 

 only a short chestnut streak behind the eye ; the amount of reddish -chestnut also on the throat 

 is more circumscribed. 



Nests with eggs or young may be found at all seasons, but in Lastern .Australia they are 

 more numerous in the latter half and in the early months of the year. 



