Mr. E. P. Ramsay on Cuckoos of New South Wales, 291 



taking, in the year 1855, no less than six eggs. Amqng them were 

 three of the Bronze Cuckoo — two of var. A and one of var. B. In 

 November last ( 1864) we took another nest of the same species, con- 

 taining one of each variety. In this instance one of the eggs, var. A, 

 was imbedded below the lining of the nest, and had evidently been 

 laid before the nest was completed, as is not unfrequently the case. 

 The other egg, which was a specimen of var. B, my brother Percy 

 placed in a nest of Acanthiza lineata, which he had found on the 

 previous day and left for such an occasion. On returning to it about 

 a week afterwards we found that the young Cuckoo had been hatched. 

 After the lapse of seven days the bronze feathers were just com- 

 mencing to appear, and in about a week or ten days more the young 

 bird was nearly able to fly, the bronze on the wings, head, and back 

 now showing plainly. 



All the species of AcanthizcB that we have met with construct oval 

 dome-shaped nests, having the entrance near the top, and more or 

 less covered with a hood. The nests are either suspended (as in the 

 case of A. lineata) from the end of some drooping or horizontal 

 bough, or, like those of the Maluri^ placed in some low bush or 

 cluster of vines, or, as is often the case with A. reguloides, placed in 

 the thick forks or loose hanging pieces of bark of the Eucalypti and 

 white-barked Tea-trees {Melaleuca). 



Now, as the apertures of the nests of the Acanthisee are exceed- 

 ingly small, a question naturally arises whether the Bronze Cuckoo 

 lays its eggs in the nest, or places them there by some other means. 

 To this I can only answer that the apertures of those nests which 

 have contained Cuckoos' eggs are nearly twice as wide as the open- 

 ings of those nests which we have taken before the Cuckoo's egg has 

 been deposited in them. This is more easily noticed in the nest of 

 A. lineata, of which the aperture is very small, and neatly covered 

 over with a hood. 



The following are a few extracts from my note-Jjook, showing the 

 species which are most frequently the foster-parents of the Bronze 

 Cuckoo : — 



Mr. Gould tells us that the Bronze Cuckoo is dispersed over the 

 * This nest also contained one of Cuculus cineraceus. 



20* 



