[NSESSORES. 465 



the white spot at the tip of the lateral tail-feathers much 

 smaller, than in the adult. 



Sp. 284. MIMETA AFFINIS, Gould. 



Mur-re-a rwoo of the Aborigines. 



Oriolus affinis, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol, vol. i. Introd. p. liii. 



This species inhabits the neighbourhood of Port Essington, 

 and only differs from the preceding in having a smaller body, 

 a shorter wing, a much larger bill, and in the white spots at 

 the tips of the lateral tail-feathers being much smaller in 

 extent. Although I have not at this moment any specimens 

 wherewith to institute a comparison, I have but little doubt 

 that this bird is quite distinct from its southern representa- 

 tive, M. viridis. 



Gilbert informed me that it is abundant in every part of the 

 Cobourg Peninsula and the adjacent islands, in every variety of 

 situation. Its note is loud, distinct, and very unlike that of 

 every other bird he had ever heard ; the sound usually uttered 

 is a loud clear whistle, terminating in a singular guttural harsh 

 catch ; but in the cool of the evening, when perched among 

 the thick foliage of the topmost branches of the Eucalypti 

 and other trees, it pours forth a succession of very pleasing 

 notes. 



A nest taken on the 4th of December contained two nearly 

 hatched eggs ; it was attached by the rim to a drooping 

 branch of the swamp Melaleuca, about five feet from the 

 ground, was very deep and large, and formed of very narrow 

 strips of the paper bark mixed with a few small twigs, the 

 bottom of the interior lined with very fine wiry twigs. 



The eggs, w^hich are large for the size of the bird, are of a 

 beautiful bluish white, sparingly spotted all over with deep 

 umber brown and bluish grey ; the latter appear as if beneath 

 the surface of the shell ; their medium length is one inch and 

 three lines long by eleven Hnes broad. 



2 n 



