GLYCYPIIILA. 



71 



measures externally four inches and a quarter in diameter by two inches and three-quarters in 

 depth, the inner cup measuring two inches in diameter by one inch and three-quarters in depth. 

 They are usually built near the ground in a clump of ferns or low shrub. One found by Mr. 

 W. L. Moore, at Waterfall, on the i8th October 1899, containing two fresh eggs, was, he informs 

 me, built at the base of a low scrubby bush amongst a heap of debris collected there apparently 

 by storm-water. 



The eggs are usually three in number for a sitting, oval in form and pointed at the smaller 

 end, the shell being close-grained, smooth, and slightly lustrous. They vary in ground colour 

 from a very pale salmon to a faint reddish or a fleshy-bufif, becoming darker towards the larger 

 end, where they are spotted, blotched or have small irregular shaped markings of chestnut-brown 

 or purplish-brown, some specimens have a few underlying markings of dull purplish-grey. Many 

 of the markings are penumbral, nearly all are of irregular shape, and specimens may be found 

 distinctly zoned, while others have the markings scattered over the larger end, and forming here 

 and there small confluent patches. A set of three taken near Hobart, in October, 1885, measures:— 

 Length (A) 075 x 0-56 inches; (6)075 x 0-58 inches ; (C) 074 x 0-57 inches. Another set 

 of three measures:— Length (A) 078 x 0-59 inches; (B) 07 x 0-56 inches; (C) 073 x 0-56 

 inches. 



Young birds of both sexes resemble the adult female, but are duller in colour, and the 

 cresentic bar on each side of the chest is smaller and less distinct. 



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



Glycyphila fulvifrons. 



FULVOUS-FKONTED HUXEY-E.\'1'EE. 

 MelipJiaga fuh-ifrons, Vig. and Horsf., Trans. Linn, tioc, Vol. XV., p. 317 (1826). 

 Certhia fulvifrons, Lewin, Bds. New Holl., pi. 22 (18.38) teste Gadow. 

 Glyciphila fulvifrons, Gould, Bds. Aust. fol. Vol. IV., pi. 28(1848); id., Handbk. Bda. Austr., 



Vol.1., p. 495 (1865); North, Rec. Austr. Mus., Vol. VI., p. 124, (1906). 

 Glycyphila fulvifrons, Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. JMus., Vol. IX., p. 210 (1884). 



Adult MALK — General colour above ashy-brown sliyldly tinged with olive, the feathers on the 

 back with a broad submarginal streak of dark brown on either side; upper tail-coverts greyish-brown; 

 lesser wing-coverts like the back, the median and greater coverts dark brown, externally margined with 

 dull yelloivlsh-white; primary coverts and quills dark brown externally edged with olive-yellow, the 

 innermost secondaries with dull whitish margins; tail feathers dark broivn, narrowly edged ivith ashy- 

 broivn; forehead and occiput reddish-fulvous ; a stripe extending from the nostril over the eye white; 

 lores, a narrow line of feathers below and behind the eye, and the ear-coverts blackish-brown, longer 

 feathers of the latter margined with fulvous-white ; chin, centre of the throat, chest, and breast tvhite, 

 separated from the sides of the neck, chest, and breast— which are ashy-brown tinged with olive — by a 

 broad line of blackish-brown feathers extending on either side from the ear-coverts towards the centre of 

 the breast, where it is broken, giving th'.se parts a mottled appearance ; some of the longer feathers on 

 the sides of the breast reddish-fulvous ; centre of the abdomen white, the sides ashy-brown with a slight 

 fulvous wash; under tail-coverts white tvith greyish-brown centres : inner margins of quills and tinder 

 wing-coverts reddish-fulvous ; bill black; legs and feet leaden-grey ; iris blackish-hrown. Total length 

 in the flesh 7 inches, wing 3':2, tail 2 8, bill 08, tarsus 0'88. 



Adult femalr — Similar in plumage to the male but slightly smaller. 



