ZON-«i:lNTHU.S. 



4:'.: 



also atiached at the sides to the thin, leafy-forked stems of a Tea-tree. It is a very flimsy 

 structure, and the egs;s would he easily discernible through the sides. It measures externally 

 two niches and a quarter in diameter by two inches and a quarter in depth, the inner cup 

 measuring one inch and three quarters in diameter by two inches in depth. 



The eggs are two in number for a sitting, and two sets now before me vary in form 

 from swollen-oval to an elongate-oval, rather compressed around the middle and towards the 

 smaller end, the shell being close-grained, smooth, and with one exception, slightly lustrous. 

 Typically they are of a reddish-llesh ground colour, with a zone of darker red, or very faint 

 purplish-red spots .uound the larger end, the remainder of the shell being similarly but very 

 sparingly marked with the same colour. On one set the markings forming the zcjne are fairly 

 well dehned, especially on one specimen. On the other set the markings are smaller, fainter 

 and of a slightly darker shade than tlie ground colour, which in one specimen is of a pale tleshy- 

 white, and so much lighter in colour, except for their peculiarly compressed-oval shape, that one 

 would think they had been laid by different birds. Although each set could easily be distinguished 

 by their shape and general markings, no two specimens have the markings of precisely the 

 same hue. A set of two taken near the Jardine Kiver, Cape York, on the gth May, njii, 

 measures: — Length (A) 075 x 0-52 inches; (B) 0-75 x 0-53 inches. Another set taken from 

 a nest built in a Tea-tree swamp, on the following day, measures: — Length (A) 0-69 x 0-55 

 inches; (B) 0-72 x 0-55 inches. In both instances the female was shot at the nest. 



A tledgeling female obtained in the same locality on the 14th May, 1911, has the lores, 

 forehead,crownof the head, hind-neck, back and rump dingy brown; wings and tail as in the adult; 

 sides of head bare, eyelids and ear-coverts dark steel-grey; short feathers on the under side of 

 the basal portion of the under mandible yellowish-white ; centre of throat greyish-white, darker 

 at the sides and on the fore-neck, the latter having also a slight dusky wash; remainder of the 

 under surface faint yellowish-white, brighter on the centre of the breast; thighs pale brown; 

 under tail-coverts white ; "bill dark brown, light brown on basal portion of under mandible ; 

 gape yellow; legs and feet lead colour; iris brown" (McLennan). Total length 3-8 inches, 

 wing 2-15, tail 1-2. 



From Mr. McLennan's notes it will be seen that April and May constitute the breeding 



season. 



Zonaeginthus oculatus. 



KED-EARED FINCH. 

 Friuijilla ornhita, Quoy and Gaiiuard, \'oy. de I'Astrol., Tom. I., p. 211, pi. 18, fig. 2 (1830). 

 Estn-hia oc.idem, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VII., pi. 79 (1S48), 

 Zoiuiyinthns oculens, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 407 (1865). 



Zono'ijinlhus oculatus, Sharpe, Cat, Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XIII., p. 294 (1890); id., Hand-1. Bds., 

 Vol. v., p. 4.3.3 (1909). 

 Adult m.\le. — (reiwral colour above brown ivas/ied irith oUcr, ail the feathers crossed ivith icartj 

 transverse black lines, narrower on the head, broader on the back; rump and upper tail-coneris crimson; 

 upper wing-coverts like the back, the (piills and tail-feathers similar, hut less distinctly unshed with 

 olive and more conspicuously barred with black, the central tail-feathers margined on their outer n-ebs 

 icith crimson, except near the lip u-hich has a dusky n-ash; lores, a narroio frontal line and feathers 

 above and below the eye black, below the hinder portion of the latter a spot of crimson; chin, throat 

 and chest pale brown transversely barred with black lines, narrotver on the npper throat, broader on 

 the chest, remainder of the under sinface ivhite barred with black, the feathers on the sides of the 

 breast also margined around the tip nnth black, giving these parts an ocellated appearance ; under tail- 

 no 



