52 SITTID.E. 



plentiful. It builds in September, forming its nest in the hollow trunk of some small tree. The 

 nest is simply the bottom of the hollow lined with feathers and other soft material." 



Probably referable to this species were two nests found by Dr. A. M. Morgan and Dr. A. 

 Chenery, during a trip made to Mount Gunson, one hundred and forty miles west of Port 

 Auyusla. Dr. Morgan writes :—'• One found on the 4th August, 1900, at Oakden Hills, placed 

 in the Initt of a hollow myall, was composed entirely of rabbit fur without any attempt at 

 arrangement, and contained a single fresh egg. The other at Mount Gunson on the 12th 

 August, containmg a single egg incubating. The nest was almost e.xactly in a similar situation 

 and was of the same material. In colour the eggs closely resemble those of CUmadcvis scaudens, 

 Gould {ncc Temm.). This Tree-creeper is smaller than the latter species, and I did not hear it 

 utter a note at all. ^^'e met with it also at Mount Gunson, but were unable to procure a 

 specimen." 



Mr. Keartland writes me: — "Near Lake .\ugusta, Western Australia, in September, 1896, 

 I had the good fortune to see two White-eyebrowed Tree-creepers going in and out of a hollow 

 branch. Both were shot, and on splitting the branch open their nest was found nearly ready 

 for eggs." 



Mr. W. D. Campbell, sent from Menzies. Western .\ustralia, two eggs of this species to 

 the Trustees of the Australian Museum, and wrote: — "The nest was in the hollow branch of a 

 small gum tree about six feet from the ground. The hollow was tilled up for fifteen inches, 

 and may have been an accumulation of successive nests. The bird had availed itself of all 

 kinds of nesting material of which a thick mattress of sheep's wool and camel-hair formed a 

 considerable portion. There was a brood of two nearly fledged young, and the accompanying 

 two eggs, which were addled." The eggs are rounded o\als in form, the shell being close-grained 

 smooth, and slightly lustrous. They are of a reddish-white ground, thickly freckled and 

 spotted all over with rich reddish and purplish-brown, the markings being more numerous and 

 are confluent on the larger end, where in one specimen they forTii a small but well defined zone. 

 Length (.A) 072 x 0-65 inches; (B) 0-73 x 0-65 inches. .\n egg received by Mr. Keartland, 

 taken by Mr. C. E. Cowle, in Central Australia in March 1895, measures: — 073 x 0-67 inches. 

 The eggs of Climadcris siipcniliosa, are indistinguishable from those of small examples of 

 C. picumnus, Temminck. 



Family SITTID^. 



Oen-U-S ISTEOSITT^^, Hrllmayr. 



Neositta chrysoptera. 



ORANGE-WINGED BARK-PECKER. 

 Sitta chrysoptera, Lath., Ind. Orn. Suppl. p. xxxii. (1801). 

 Sittella chrysoptpra, Gould, Bds. Aust. fol. Vol. IV., pi. 101 (1818); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., 



Vol. I., p. 609 (1865); Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. VIII., p. 360 (1883). 

 Neositta chrysoptera, Sharpe, Hand-1. Bds., Vol. IV., p. 351 (1903). 



Aditlt MALK — General colour above dusky gri'yisli-broum most of the fi-atliers of the inantle, 

 scapulars and back ivith conspicuous blackish -brown centres; rump while; upper tail-coverts ii'hite 

 with a slight rufous wash on the basal portion which has a dark brown streak along the shaft and 

 widening out into a cross bar toivards the extremity of the feather ; upper wing-coverts dark broivn; 

 quills dark brown crossed in the centre ivith a broad rich rufous band except a narrow edge on the outer 

 web, this band decreasing in extent toivards the innermost secondaries ivhich are narrowly edged with 

 whity brown as are also (he tips of most of the quills; tail feathers blackish-brown, the central pair 



