46 CERTllIID.E. 



from a set of three taken from one of these nesting sites, on the 4th October, 1887. At Chatswood 

 Mr. A. Johnston saw a pair of birds leaving a small upright hollow limb of a thin stemmed 

 gum tree, which broke off when he caught hold of it. Later on I reached this nesting place 

 which was about ten feet from the ground and down the main green stem of the tree, by standing 

 on the shoulders of Messrs C. G. and A. Johnston. With the aid of a small scoop I managed to 

 draw up two fresh and slightly bark-stained eggs which were lying on a scanty nest of opossum 

 fur. I saw two sets, one of two, the other of three eggs, in the collection of the late Mr. H. G. 

 Evered of Melbourne. He informed me that he had taken both sets from nests built under large 

 pieces of the partially detached bark of dead gum trees at a height of about six feet from the ground. 

 Both were found on Gulpha Station, near Mathoura, New South Wales; one during December, 

 1892, and the other in the same month of the following year. 



The eggs are two or three in number for a sitting, oval or elongate-oval in form, the shell 

 being close-grained, smootli and lustreless. They are of a dull white ground colour which is 

 marked, but particularly on the larger end, with a few rounded spots and dots varying from a 

 dark reddish-brown to purplish-black. Some specimens have the markings very small and of 

 irregular shape, others are almost devoid of any. Typically they more nearly resemble one of 

 the many varieties of eggs of the White-plumed Honey-eater (PtUotis pcnicillata), and may be 

 easily distinguished from those of any other species of Tree-creeper. A set of two taken at 

 Chatswood, on the 23rd October, 1898, measure as follows: — Length (A) 0-84 x 0-65 inches; 

 (B) 0-85 X 0-68 inches. A set of two taken by Mr. John Ramsay at Macquarie Fields, measure: 

 Length (A) 0'85 x o-bj inches ; (B) o'85 x o-66 inches. 



September and the four following months constitute the usual breeding season of this species. 



Young birds just prior to leaving the nesting place resemble the adults, but have the fore- 

 head and crown of the head dull dark brown without any paler margins to the feathers, the 

 rump and upper tail-coverts are dull greyish-brown with an indistinct dark brown subterminal 

 cross-bar, a few of the feathers having dull rufous tips ; on the underparts some of the feathers 

 on the sides of the breast are indistinctly streaked with buffy-wliite. Wing i-g inches. 



Immature birds have narrow indistinct blackish-brown margins and white shaft lines to the 

 greater wing-coverts, a few of the feathers on the back having also white shaft lines, the rump 

 and upper tail-coverts are rich rusty-red and the dull white streaks to the feathers on the sides 

 of the breast are narrower and irregularly formed. \\'ing 3-4 inches. Traces of the rusty-red 

 colour on the rump or upper tail-coverts, may be found more or less in birds otherwise in full 

 adult plumage. 



Climacteris melanura. 



BLACK-TAILED TREE-CREEPER. 



Climacteris melamira, Gould., Proc. Zool. Soc, 1842, p. 138; id., Bds. Austr., fol.. Vol. IV^., pi. 97 

 (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Aust. Vol. L, p. 604 (1865); Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus. Vol. 

 VIIL, p 334 (1883); Sharps, Hand-1. Bds., Vol. IV., p. 357 (1903). 



Adult male — FureJiead and croivti of the /lead smoky-brotvu: nape, hind-neck and mantle dull 

 chocolate-brorvn, j)assing into hroivnish-black on the scapulars, back, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; 

 upper tving coverts and innermost secondaries like the back, remainder of the quills dark broirn crossed 

 in the centre icith a conspicuous band of rich buff] except on the edge of the outer ivebsofthe secondaries, 

 the band becoming paler towards the outer primaries, ivhich have the outer tvebs dark brown; tail 

 feathers bromiish-black ; ear-coverts brou'nish-black with narrow bvffy-wliite shaft stripes; cheeks and 

 sides of the neck dull chocolate-brown; feathers on the chin and ceyitre of throat white with broad black 



