204 



MELIPHAGID^. 



grasses, hair, fur, or wool. An average nest measures externally seven inches in diameter by 

 four inches in height, the inner cup measuring three inches and a quarter in diameter by two 

 inches and a half in depth. It is usually built in a low tree from seven to ten feet from the 

 ground, but nests I saw at Narrabri and Moree were built among the terminal leafy branches of 

 trees fully thirty feet from the ground. 



The eggs are usually four, sometimes three, and occasionally five in number for a sitting, 

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

 They vary in ground colour from a rich salmon to a salmon-red, some have the ground colour 

 distinctly tinged with buffy-yellow, others are dark salmon-red on the larger end and gradually 

 becoming paler towards the smaller end. Typically they are freckled and spotted with a richer 

 and darker shade of the ground colour, in some the markings are almost invisible, in others bold 

 and distinct, but as a rule blend fairly well with the ground colour. Some have the markings 

 uniformly distributed over the shell, in others they are confined to or predominate on the thicker 

 end, where they not infrequently assume the form of a clouded cap or zone. A set of four in 

 the Australian Museum collection, taken on the 28th October, 1897, measures: — Length (A) 

 1-03 X 075 inches; (B) i'03 x 076 inches; (C) i-oS x 073 inches; (D) 1-04 x 073 inches. 

 A set of five small and glossy eggs taken by Mr. James Ramsay, at Tyndarie, on the 29th 

 September, 1879, measures: — Length (A) 0-93 x 073 inches; (B) 0-92 x 073 inches; (C) 0-93 

 X 072 inches; (D) 0-92 x 072 inches; (E) 0-93 x 072 inches. Typically the eggs of this 

 species may be distinguished from those of Myzantlia garvula by their richer ground colour. 



Young birds resemble the adults, but the upper parts are more distinctly washed with pale 

 brown, and the tips of the tail feathers are brownish-white; on the under surface the feathers 

 are downy, and those on the fore neck and breast have only a faint indication of the brown 

 submarginal bar on the apical portion, and some of the feathers behind the ear-coverts are yellow 

 like those on the sides of the neck. Wing 47 inches. 



This bird is an early breeder in South Australia, Dr. A. Chenery having observed it 

 building in May while several nests with eggs, and one with half-grown young were found by 

 Dr. Morgan at the end of July. In New South Wales nests with eggs may be obtained in 

 August, but are more numerous in September and October. At Narribri and Moree I observed 

 this species sitting, and obtained young birds in November. 



My-tiiilJiii hitea, inhabiting North-western .\ustralia and the Northern Territory of South 

 .\ustralia is a close ally of this species and is its representative in those parts of the continent. 



This species is one of the foster parents of the Pallid Cuckoo. At the meeting of the 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales held on the 28th June, 1905, I exhibited a set of eggs 

 consisting of three of the Yellow-throated Miner and one of the Pallid Cuckoo. These eggs from 

 the collection of Mr. W. L. Moore, were taken in September, 1901, on Yerranbah Station, New 

 Angledool, Northern New South Wales. 



Myzantha obscura. 



SOMBRE MINER. 



Myzantha obscura, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1840, p. 1.59 ; id., Bds. Austr , fol., Vol. IV., pi. 77(1848); 



id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 576 (186-5); Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. IX., 



p. 260 (1884). 



Adult .m.^le— Zil-e the adult male 0/ MYZ.\NTn.\ flavigul.v, Gould, but of a darker and duller 



shade of grey, particularly on the sides of the neck and the under parts, and having darker olive-yellow 



margins to the quills and tail feathers, the latter with small brownish-white tips; ear-coverts blackish, 



