1 GYMNORHINIS.E. 



The eggs are usually four, frequently three, and occasionally as many as five in number for 

 a sitting, and with the exception of those of Gymnorhina hnconoUi which are indistinguishable 

 from them, are probably more variable in colour than those of any other species of Australian bird. 

 They are oval or elongate oval in form, the shell being close-grained, smooth and lustrous. The 

 ground colour varies from greenish-blue to a dull bluish-white, and from a reddish-grey to a 

 dull brown. One of the most common varieties found is of a pale bluish-white ground colour, 

 which is almost obscured with short streaks, scratches and smears of reddish or chestnut-brown, 

 uniformly distributed over the shell, in others the markings are confluent, forming dull 

 indistinct clouded patches. Some are of a faint-bluish grey ground colour, over which is 

 sparingly distributed rounded or slightly smeared penumbral spots of different shades of 

 inky-black and burnt umber. Another type is of a similar ground colour, but has faint 

 irregular shaped markings of wood-brown intermingled with underlying smears of faint 

 violet-grey. A not uncommon variety is of a dingy ashy-brown ground colour with a few 

 smears, short streaks or nearly obsolete spots of a deeper hue sparingly distributed over the shell. 

 A set of four taken by Mr. James Ramsay at Tyndarie, New South Wales, on the 7th October, 

 1879, measure : — Length (A) 1-55 x roS inches; (B) 1-5 x '08 inches: (C) 1-32 x -05 inches; 

 (D) i'48 X 1-07 inches. A set of four taken on the loth October, 1896, measures; — Length (A) 

 1-63 X 1-13 inches; (B) i'55 x 1-13 inches; (C) 1-65 x 1-12 inches; (D) 1-45 x i-i6 inches. 

 A set of remarkably small eggs taken by Mr. Wilfred Bennett at Yandembah Station, New 

 South Wales on the 3rd September, 1899, measures: — Length (A) i'^^ x i-i inches; (B) 1-3 

 X 1-07 inches; (C) i'35 x i inch. Two more eggs taken by Mr. Bennett a week later from 

 the same nest, measure: — Length (A) i'38 x i-02 inches: (B) 1-27 x i-oi inches. Two 

 eggs taken by Mr. A. S. Boyd, on the 13th September, 1894, near Townsville, Queensland, 

 measure: — Length (A) 1-51 x i-05 inches; (B) 1-53 x 1-07 inches. On Yandembah Station 

 the late Mr. Kenric Harold Bennett on one occasion found the eggs in a nest of this species 

 that he had examined the week before, completely covered with a thick layer of rabbit fur, 

 evidently, he believed as a safeguard against the marauding propensities of the Kaven and 

 Crow, which are notorious robbers of the eggs of other birds, especially when the owners 

 are absent from them. 



Young birds resemble the female, but are much duller in colour, the feathers of the hind- 

 neck are more or less spotted with black near the tip, and those of the back are narrowly edged 

 with grey; throat and remainder of the under surface brownish-black, the former being 

 strongly washed with ashy and the feathers of the latter margined witli ashy-white at the tips. 

 The last trace of immaturity is usually exhibited in the lesser extent of white on the outer webs 

 of some of the primary coverts. 



Young birds reared from the nest are in great request as pets, for they soon learn to speak 

 and in time acquire an extensive vocabulary, besides imitating any familiar sounds such as the 

 barking of a dog or crowing of fowls. If allowed their freedom and the run of a garden an old 

 male is often as good as a watch dog in the day time, for it will immediately give warning of one 

 approaching the place by its loud notes of displeasure, if it does not also savagely attack the 

 intruder. There is a drawback, however, m allowing these birds their liberty, they are fearfully 

 mischievous, and \\a.\'e a. penchant, when unobserved of stealthily appropriating small articles that 

 can be easily carried off, more especially anything formed of metal, and secreting it in a hoard 

 like the true Magpie (Pica caudata) of Europe. One of these caches, formed by a bird in my 

 possession, I discovered in a shallow hole underneath a thick low spreading shrub in my 

 garden, that revealed a miscellaneous collection of articles, consisting of thimbles, small spoons, 

 needles, lead-pencils, and a quantity of nails. When reared from the nest these birds are very 

 affectionate and become much attached to their owners ; many, however, are sold that have been 

 trapped after they have left the nest for several weeks, these birds although young, generally 



