160 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXVI. 



29th September, 2 eggs, slightly incubated ... ..A 



* I2th October, 2 eggs, fresh (see Plate IV.) ... ... I Same pair birds, 



24th October, 2 eggs, very slightly incubated ( i egg [sets very similar, 



addled) ... ... ... ... ...j 



" The birds are usually found in thick brush thickets, rarely in 

 the open. 



" The nest is the usual bulky grass structure, with very little 

 ' roof.' The entrance is near the top, and is large, the eggs 

 being plainly visible from outside ; no lining beyond fine grasses 

 is used in the nest. The lower part of the nest is strongly made, 

 but the upper part is very loosely put together (see Plate IV.) 



" The nest is usually placed in the centre of a low, thick bush, 

 and varies from i to 2j/^ feet from the ground. The nest 

 photographed was about 12 inches from the ground." 



Of the nine nests found, seven contained sets of two eggs in 

 each, some of them being slightly incubated ; the remaining two 

 nests (sets of three eggs in each), one slightly incubated, the other 

 fresh. As Mr. Gibson points out, two pairs of birds yielded three 

 sets of eggs, the laying season, doubtless owing to their being 

 robbed, extending from the 29th August to the 24th October, 

 1909, inclusive. The eggs vary from rounded oval to somewhat 

 lengthened oval in form, the shell being close-grained, smooth, 

 and lustrous. Typically they are white, or of a very faint reddish- 

 white ground colour, over which are sprinkled dots and small 

 irregular-shaped spots and a few blotches of rich red or purplish- 

 red, and having similar, but fewer, underlying markings of 

 lilac-grey, all of them being more thickly disposed towards the 

 larger end, where they are confluent, and assume the form of an 

 irregular zone. A set of three eggs, taken on the 29th August, 

 measure — (a) 0.78 x 0.63 inches 3 (b) 0.79 x 0.64 inches; 

 (c) 0.78 X 0.63 inches. A set of two taken from the nest 

 photographed, on the 12th October, measure — (a) 0.91 x 

 0.65 inches ; (b) 0.93 x 0.65 inches. An unusually coloured set, 

 differing from any eggs I had seen of Amytis, are of a salmon-red 

 ground colour, sparingly sprinkled over one specimen, but 

 numerous on the other, with dots and small irregular spots of a 

 darker shade of the ground colour, the latter having a broad 

 clouded band of a still darker hue, shaded with purple, on the 

 larger end, and the former a similar band around the smaller 

 end of the shell. These eggs measured — (a) 0.87 x 0.65 

 inches ; (b) 0.87 x 0.66 inches. 



Typical eggs of Amylis macrurus resemble in colour and 

 markings lightly marked eggs of Cinclorhamphus rufescens ; 

 the last described set more resemble the eggs of Meliphaga 

 phrygia. 



The accompanying plate is the first which has been published 

 of the nest of any species of Amytis. 



* Set sent for description. 



