234 Shufeldt, Eggs of Reptiles and Birds Compared. [ist^Aprii 



Fig. 36. — Great-tailed Grackle (Megaquiscalus m. macroiirits). Col- 

 lected in See County by Eugene Friebele. (5, 30, 95.) Set 

 mark 275. (Eggs, five.) Collection of Edward J. Court. 



Fig. 37. — Lesser White-backed Magpie (Gyvnnorhina hypoleuca) 

 A. W. Swindells, collector, Sandford, Tasmania. (24, 9, ii.) 

 (Eggs, three.) Set mark 3A. Court collection. 



Fig. 38. — Boat-tailed Grackle (Megaquiscalus m. major). See figs. 

 32 and 34 of this plate for data. 



Plate XLI. 



Figs. 39,41. — Eggs of Least Tern (Sterna antillarum). Same as shown 

 on Plate XL., figs. 29-31, which see for data. 



Figs. 42-47. — Black-backed Magpie (Gymnorhina fibicen). S. Robin- 

 son, collector. Hariman Park, Queensland, Australia. 

 (Set of four.) Two collected. Marked 230, 4/9/09. (No. 

 27.) Court collection, Washington, D.C. (Figs. 42 and 

 45.) Figs. 43 and 44 another set (3, 12, 12). Taken by E. 

 Barnard (figs. 46 and 47). Another set (647, 4/3), 21/9/09. 

 Same locality and collector. All at this writing in the collec- 

 tion of Mr. Edward J. Court, of Washington, D.C, and 

 collected by Mr. Septimus Robinson. 



Some Tasmanian Birds' Nests. 



By H. Stuart Dove. R.A.O.U., West Devonport (Tas.) 



Birds' nests may, for convenience, be classed under several 

 heads — the pensile, swung by the rim of the nest, in which the 

 eggs, and later the nestlings, are rocked by the winds ; the 

 suspended, in which the structure is held at the sides only, without 

 support from below ; the common or supported type, in which 

 the nest is placed on a branch or in a fork or niche ; and the 

 ground nest. 



A good example of the pensile style of building is the nest of 

 the White-eye {Zoster ops dorsalis). These smart little birds are 

 familiar to all in gardens and orchards, or among the patches of 

 scrub by the beach, in their greenish and buff colouring, and with 

 their sharp, ringing call-note, as they dash in small companies 

 through the bushes. In New Zealand a common name for this 

 species is " Blight-Bird," on account of its beneficial habit of 

 patrolling the orchards in winter time and picking off the woolly 

 aphis and other pests. The swinging type of nest, such as is 

 built by this bird, is not common in temperate climes, being 

 specially adapted to puzzle those inhabitants of tropical countries, 

 such as monkeys and tree-chmbing snakes, which have an 

 irrepressible craving for eggs and nestlings. Except the nest of 

 this species and those of the Strong-billed Honey-eater {Meli- 

 threptus validirostris) and Black-headed Honey-eater {M. melano- 

 cephalus), I know of no other in Tasmania whose structure is truly 

 pensile — i.e., sewed by the rim to supports, otherwise swinging 



