6 I'UI'ULID.E. 



a nest of the Yellow-tufted Honey-eater, which previously had contained two or three fresh 

 e.tjKs, but on visiting it some four weeks later found it completely filled with a nearly fledj,'ed 

 youn,L; I'allid Cuckoo, which hardly exhibited any concern imtil it was reluctantly compelled 

 to j;i\e up possession (jt the nest, while undergoing; a close examination. 



The eggs of the I'allid Cuckoo are oval-rounded, or elongated-oval in form, the shell being 

 close-grained, smooth and slightly lustrous. They are of a uniform flesh colour, some specimens 

 having a few dots of a darker hue scattered over the shell. Four eggs taken respectively from 

 the nests of Plilctis ttiiriiomis, Mditliicptus hvcvcvostvis, J'achyicphala vnfivcntvis and Alcliphaf^d 

 ///rr,i,'((r, measure as follows: — Length (A) o-gg x 07 inches ; (B)u-g7 x o-6S inches; (C) o'g() 

 X o'7 inches: (D) fo x o-ji inches. 



A nestling in the collection of the Australian Museum, bred in the nest of f'iili'lis auiicoiim, 

 from an egg placed there by I)r. Kamsay, in 1.S64, is in general colour dull white above, and 

 below the feathers mottled or broadly streaked with blackish-brown, the forehead and a broad 

 band down the wing blackish brown, the inner portion of the wing slightly waslied with fulvous; 

 chin, clieeks and throat brown, the latter with darker brown centres to the feathers. Total 

 length 4-2 inches, wing ri inches. An almost similar stage of plumage is exhibited by fledgelings, 

 and by (juite young birds, but the upper parts are more distinctly washed with fulvous, ami 

 which also extends to the crown of the head, hind neck and upper back : all the quills are 

 brown, the primaries conspicuously margined around their tips, and notched on their inner 

 webs with white, the secondaries bioadly margined or toothed on their outer webs with white, 

 and these patches are washed with fulvous. Total length 8-5 inches, wing 5-2 inches. 



Immature birds are brown above, mottled or margined, especially on the head and hind 

 neck and wmgs, with light rufous; below ashy brown; under tail-coverts w'ith indistinct, dull 

 dark-brown barrings in the lower flanks and under tail-coverts. Total length i2-(i inches, wing 

 7-5 inches. Some immature specimens exhibit, more or less, the light rufous and black also 

 on the foreneck. There ate very few adult birds, even in breeding plumage, that do not show- 

 traces of pale rufous markings more or less below the white nape spot. 



In the neighbourhood of Sydney the eggs of the I'allid Cuckoo are seldom found before the 

 end of September, or first week in October, but are far more comnujn during the followin.L; 

 month, and I have taken them at Canterbury and Helmore as late as the 14th and i^th [anuary. 



0-erL\:iS 0-<f^C0n^-<^3Sr'X'IS, Mnller. 



Cacomantis flabelliformis. 



FAN-TAILED CUCKOO. 



Cnvulua jIalieUiforiiiig, Lath., Ind. (Jrn., Suppl. TI., p. .\xx. (ISOl); Nortii, Ihis, 190-5, p. 54. 



(' itcuhis riurraci'us, Y\i;>,. s.m\ Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. XV., p. 298 (L^20) ; Gould, Bds. 

 Austr., fob, Vol. IV., pi. 86 (1348) ; id., Hand-bk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. (318 (1805). 



Cacotnantis jlahdliformis, Shelley, Gat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XIX., p. 26(i (1891) ; Sliarpe, Hand-1. 

 Bds., Vol. II., p. IGO (1900). 



Adult male — (TP.iiernI cd/mir ahurc durk f^a/^f-i/ni/ irit/i a r«/y/ t:li<//it (jn'i'iiiali i/loss. tin' iciiiys 

 Ijrii/ri/iK/i-ijrfi/, irilli (in ulilniti/ s/mt iif irliit.f tnicards l/ie itnti'r ha!<i'. of the. ireix of (ill lh< (jnills, (i(/(je 

 11/ tlie s/iou/i/cr iv/iitc: upiicr Idil-aiverlK sliylitly dackir than l/tc back ; tail feathers blnifh-black, 

 tipped with ii^liite, t/tn inaryins of the CKiilral pair itarrincl ;/ edyed and nolclied ivith tvliitc, the latter 

 increasiiiy toivardi! tlie lateral featlicrs, irliich are broimish aiid have their iimer icehs iihII( mliitish 

 bars rtiiudiKj across to the shaft, and llo ir outer iclis tiarroivly cilyi'd and sliyhfli/ taothed icilh ii'hite ; 



