ANELLOBIA. 167 



The eggs are usually two, sometimes only one in number for a sitting, oval in form, the 

 shell being close-grained smooth and lustrous. They vary from a reddish-buff to a reddish-salmon 

 in ground colour, and are spotted and blotched with different shades, varying from a chestnut- 

 brown to dark purplish-red and having fainter underlying markings of dull bluish-grey. Some 

 specimens have short streaks, blurred blotches, ill-shapen figures, or scratches, in others the 

 markings are penumbral. As a rule they predominate chiefly on the larger end where they 

 occasionally assume the form of a cap or irregular zone. A set of two taken at Belmore, near 

 Sydney, on the i8th August, 1899, measures: — Length (A) i-o5 x o'yS inches; (B) I'og x 0-77 

 inches. A set of two taken by Mr. G. Savidge at Whiteman Creek, on the 7th September, 

 1895, measures: — Length (A) IT3 x 0-78 inches; (B) i-i x 0.76 inches. 



Young birds are dull brown above, clearer brown on the head, hind neck and upper tail- 

 coverts with indistinct whitish shafts to the feathers; the ijuills have smaller white tips, the 

 tail feathers are more strongly washed with olive than in the adult, but the lateral feathers only 

 are tipped with white, ear-coverts and sides of the neck dark brown, all the feathers centered with 

 silvery-white, all the under surface dull greyish-brown, the feathers on the fore neck having 

 indistinct whitish shaft streaks. 



The breeding season in New South Wales commences early in August, and continues until 

 the end of January, during which time two broods are reared. 



Anellobia lunulata. 



LUXUL.iTED WATTLE-BIRD. 

 Anthochcera Innulala, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1837, p. 1.53: id., Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. IV., pi. 57 



(1848). 



Andlohia lunulata, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 543 (186.5). 



Acantlwchara hinulata, Gadovv, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. IX., p. 265 (1884). 



Adult male — Differs from the adiilt nia/e 0/' Anellobia mellivora, iii having a longer and 

 narrower bill, the upper jiarts including the head brown, with darker brown centres to all the feathers, 

 those on the back having indistinct whitish, shaft streaks and tips, the upper tail coverts have a large 

 white crescentic marking at the tip, the primaries are narrmvly margiiied with white, the outer webs 

 of the quills are buff or creamy- rufous passing into greyish-white near the tips, the innermost secondaries 

 are broadly margined on the apical portion of their outer webs and around their tips with greyish- 

 white; the ear-coverts and sides 0/ the neck are silvery-white as are also the tips of the feathers on the 

 throat; t/iere is a large amount of white on the lower portion of the under surface, the apical half of 

 the feathers on the centre of the abdomen being entirely jvhite; under tail coverts tohite ivith concealed 

 brown bases. Total length 1.2 incites, wing 5'6, tail <i\', bill 1'07, tarsus I'l. 



Adult fkmale — Simi/nr in plHmiujc to the nude hnt slightly smaller. Wing .y.) inches. 

 Distribution — \\'estern Australia. 



/T^HE Lunulated Wattle-bird is allied to the preceding species, and is an inhabitant of the 

 J_ South-western portion of the continent. In addition to its longer bill the absence of 

 the distinct white central shaft-streaks on the head, hind neck and back, and the larger amount 

 of white on the under surface, will readily serve to distinguish it from A . mellivora. There are 

 specimens in the Australian Museum, collected by Mr. George Masters on behalf of the Trustees 

 at King George's Sound, Western Australia, in March 1866. One of them, a female, is 

 distinguished from the others in having a patch of pure white feathers on each side of the chest. 



