Data 
No. 
391 
99% 
393 
No. in 
05 
Campbell’s No. of 
Book. 
18 
2 
on 
~ 
Eggs. 
THE JACKSONIAN OOLOGICAL COLLECTION 
like thread has been drawn ; the other three leaves are not visible, as one covers the top of the nest, 
and the other two act as a protection for the back parts. When these leaves were fresh and green the 
nest looked really beautiful, and was very cleverly hidden from observation. On a hot day these birds 
leave the reed and grass beds for a time to flitter about high in the air, and during their papilionaceous 
flight they are continuously pouring forth their strange little notes; then suddenly they lower in a 
mysterious manner straight down to the ground, similar to the descent of the Sky Lark. The note of the 
Grass Warbler is a shrill frog-like squeak, followed by two or three chirps of a softer and different tone. 
The notes resemble—s-q-u-e-a-k churrup churrup, s-q-u-e-a-k churrup churrup churrup. The squeak is 
uttered very slowly, but the churrups following it are produced rapidly. An average specimen of this 
very pretty clutch of 4 eggs measures = 062 x 0°47. 
Clutch of 4 eggs, taken by Sid. W. Jackson on the 7th of February, 1899, at South Grafton, 
N.S.W. The nest was built in a field of lucerne, and contained also an egg of the Narrow-billed Bronze 
Cuckoo. This clutch is of a beautiful bluish-green, with very large brown blotches, and not 
small dots as on those of the previous set taken near 
Manly, Sydney. One egg of the set under notice measures 
= 0°65 x 0°46. 
NARROW-BILLED BRONZE CUCKOO, 
Chalcococcyx basalts, Horsfield. 
One egg, taken with the latter set of 4 Grass Warblers’ 
eggs. It measures in inches = 0°72 x 052. 
GRASS WARBLER, 
Cisticola extlis, V. and H. 
Clutch of 4 eggs, taken at Pearce’s Creek, Booyong, 
near Lismore, N.S.W., on the 19th of October, 1899. 
The nest was built in the top portions of the Blue Weed, 
or Wild Verbena (Verbena bonariensis), growing on 
S. Trimble’s farm. It contained also an egg of the Bronze 
Cuckoo. One egg of the set measures = 0°62 x 0°47. 
BRONZE CUCKOO, 
Chalcococcyx plagosus, Latham. 
One egg taken with the set of 4 Grass Warblers’ 
eggs. It measures in inches = 0°73 x 0°48. 
MISTLETOE BIRD, 
Diceum hirundinaceum, Shaw. 
Set of 2 eggs, taken in the bush near ‘ Cranbrook,” 
5So~ 
at Rose Bay, Sydney, on the 28th of September, rgo1, 
by Sid. W. Jackson. The nest, which resembles a pouch, 
is of a soft felt-like consistency, and was built in a bush 
: : x NEST OF THE MISTLETOE BIRD, 
locally known as the Pigeon Berry (Z/ecarpus obovatus). 
(Natural size.) 
It was suspended on a twig 15 feet from the ground, and Loc., Rose Bay, Sydney. 
contained also an egg of the Narrow-billed Bronze (ina dnen No. 393.) 
Cuckoo. A photograph of the nest accompanies this 
description. During August and September of last year (1906) I found three partly built nests of the 
Mistletoe Bird at Roseville, near Sydney, and for some reason or other the birds had deserted each 
one when only half completed. This pretty swallow-like bird often feeds on the ripe mucus berries of 
the Mistletoe (Loranthus celastroides), etc., and is responsible to a great extent for the distribution of 
this growth, as, in order to free the seeds from its bill it flies to some rough-barked tree, where they are 
69 
