32 PACHYCEPHALIN.B. 



The nidification of P. falcata closely resembles that of the preceding species. A nest received 

 from Mr. J. A. Boyd while a resident of the Herbert River, Queensland, and taken by Mr. D. 

 Cochrane, is a frail cup-shaped structure formed entirely of fine fibrous rootlets. It was built 

 in a low tree and contained two fresh eggs. Another nest now before me taken near the Daly 

 River in the Northern Territory of South Australia, on the 8th January, 1902, is externally 

 constructed of dried plant stems and fibrous roots, the inner cup being neatly but sparingly lined 

 with very fine dried grasses and rootlets. Externally it averages four inches in diameter, depth 

 two inches, the inner cup measuring two inches and a half in diameter by one inch and a half 

 in depth. 



In several sets received, two eggs constituted a full sitting, and in two instances the eggs 

 were heavily incubated. They are indistinguishable from the smaller eggs of P. nifivadvis. 

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

 ground colour varies from a pale olive to olive-brown, over which is sprinkled freckles and spots 

 of dull umber brown intermingled with small underlying markings of faint ashy-grey, the 

 markings predominating at the thicker end, where in some instances they form a more or less 

 well defined zone. In two specimens now before me, the spots are chiefly distributed on a 

 penumbral band of a slightly darker shade of the ground colour around the thicker end. X set 

 of two taken by Mr. J. Cochrane at Cairns, Queensland, on the 17th October, 1896, measures : — 

 Length (A) 0-82 x 0-63 inches; (B) o-8i x 0-62 inches, .\nother set from the same locality, 

 measure: — Length (.A.) 0-83 x 0-63 inches; (6)0-82 x 0-64 inches. A set in ;\Ir. C. French 

 Junr's. collection, taken near the Daly River, in the Northern Territory of South .\ustralia, 

 measure : — Length (A) 0-85 x 0-64 inches ; (B) 0-87 x 0-65 inches. 



In the Northern Territory of South Australia the breeding season of this as with most 

 species is during the early months of the year. 



An immature male from Port Essington has the blackish-brown band on the fore-neck 

 much broader, some feathers on the crown of the head white and a line of white feathers extending 

 behind the eve, and meeting forms a w'hite band on the hind-neck. 



Pachycephala gilberti. 



GILBERT'S THICKHEAD. 

 Pac/iycphala gilberti, Gould., Proc. Zool. Soc, 1844, p. 107; id., Bds. Austr., fol.. Vol. II., pi. 71 

 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Aust. Vol. L, p. 216 (186.5); Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus. Vol. 

 VIII,, p 210 (1883); Sharpe, Hand-1. Bds., Vol. IV., p. 308 (1903). 



Adult male — General colour above dark grey washed iritli olive, less distinctly on the head and 

 rump; upper wing-coverts like the hack, the greater series with dusky brown centres and greyish-brown 

 margins; quills dusky-brown, the secondaries externally margined with dull greyish-brotvn, and the 

 primaries edged with whitybrown; upper tail-coverts dark grey; tail feathers greyish-brown; lores 

 and feathers in front of the eye black; ear-coverts dark grey; cheeks, chin and throat dzdl rust-red; 

 fore-neck grey, slightly tinged with sandy-buff; centre of the breast and the abdomen sandy-buff; 

 remainder of the under surface grey, the sides of the body slightly darker; under tail-coverts sandy- 

 buff'; "bill black; legs and feet black; iris bright red-broivn."— {Morgan). Total length 7-2-5 inches, 

 wing If, tail So, bill 0-45, tarsus 0-9-5. 



Addlt female — Resembles the adult male but devoid of the black colouring on the lores; the rust- 

 red patch on the chin and throat is absent, these parts being grey. 



Distribution — New South \\'ales, Mctoria, South Australia, Western .Australia. 



