and Eyys from Cape York. 55 



hard to find ; tliey are very similar to those of the Drongo 

 Shrike {Chibia bracteata), and the eggs are also somewhat 

 alike. The nest is a shallow, open structure, and is made of 

 curly vine-tendrils, the inside heing lined with the same 

 material, only finer, and on the hranch on which the nest 

 was huilt, and in conjunction with it, an orchid was growing, 

 a portion of which the bird had worked into the outside of 

 its nest. It was built on a horizontal fork of a tall scrub-tree 

 growing in forest-country, about 20 yards from dense scrub ; 

 the height of the nest from the ground was about 48 feet. 

 Its external diameter is 6 inches, internal 4 inches, external 

 depth 8^ inches, internal If inch. The ground-colour of 

 the two eggs varies, in one case being dull white and in the 

 other of a reddish hue. The eggs are thickly marked all 

 over with longitudinal streaks in varying shades of brown, 

 many appearing as if beneath the surface, they being of a 

 lilac colour; the markings or stripes are most numerous on 

 the larger end. They measure : — A 1*40 X 1*6, B 1'41 x 1'4 

 inch. 



5. Tanysiptera SYLVIA (Gould). (White-tailed Kingfisher.) 

 These beautiful Kingfishers breed ou the north-east coast 

 as far south as Cairns, and probably further. Mr. Barnard 

 found them nesting in termites' mounds, both in those 

 situated on the trees and also in those on the ground ; some 

 of the nests he took were 30 feet from the ground. They 

 seem to have a certain day to start laying, as he opened ten 

 nests on one day and found them all empty, but five days 

 later he opened twelve nests and found three fresh eggs in 

 each. Both Mr. R. Hislop and I myself have noticed the same 

 thing. The birds burrow a hole in a termites' mound, either 

 on the ground or in a tree, but much more often the former. 

 Shortly after the young birds leave the nest the termites fill 

 in the hole made by the parent Kingfisher. The eggs vary- 

 considerably in size ; some are slightly pointed at one end, 

 and others are not. One of the sets taken by Mr. Barnard 

 at Somerset on Dec. 17th, 1896, measure: — A -98 x "SB, 

 B 1-2 X -87, C 1-5 X -85 inch. 



