9176 Birds. 
The present nest and eggs were obtained by me near the banks of 
the Yarra Yarra, near Heidelberg, on one of those points of land, or 
“bends” of the river, still left in their original state, and where the 
underwood and tangle are extremely dense. Being on a visit in the 
neighbourhood, on the opposite side of the river, late in the previous 
summer, my attention was attracted by the remarkable note of this 
bird, but as the breeding season was then past, 1 merely noted its 
haunt. Finding, however, on reference to Gould’s work, that its nidi- 
fication was unknown, and relying on a general fact I had often ob- 
served, namely, that the same pair (apparently) of birds will, if un- 
disturbed, return for several years to the same locality for breeding, 
I revisited the spot about the commencement of the next summer, and, 
after a short search, was rewarded by the discovery of the nest, on 
which the female bird was sitting so closely as almost to allow herself 
to be captured ; thus removing all doubt as to the identity of the nest 
and eggs. The nest was in the most tangled part of the thicket, and 
placed in the forked branches of a shrub, about four feet from the 
ground: it is cup-shaped, about five inches outside diameter; the 
exterior of dry slender twigs, and the interior lined with thin fibres 
and a few pieces of horse-hair, the latter evidently owing to the acci- 
dental vicinity of some farms; the whole structure is neither very 
solidly nor elaborately built. It contained two eggs; length exactly 
one inch; extreme width, three-quarters ofan inch. In shape they are 
not much pointed at the thinner end, and the greatest girth is at about 
the middle. Their ground colour is pale greenish blue, with streaks 
and dots of various sizes scattered pretty equally over the whole 
surface: these markings are of a brownish black colour, and of two 
kinds, the one being very distinct and sharp, the other somewhat 
less numerous, more grayish and much fainter, having the appearance 
of being under the shell. From the fact of the bird sitting so closely, 
I conclude that no more than two eggs are generally laid, though the 
present ones had not yet been perceptibly incubated. 
I regret to say I have kept no precise memorandum as to the date 
of finding the nest, but believe it to have been about the end of 
October. 
2. EPTHIANURA ALBIFRONS, Gould. Whitefronted Epthianura. 
This bird, which, at the first cursory glance, recalls the familiar 
English water wagtail, both by its general appearance and motions, is 
by no means uncommon round Melbourne. 
Mr. Gould writes as follows in his notice of this species :—“I first | 
a 
