1875.] BIRDS FROM QUEENSLAND. 589 
posed of rootlets, and skeletons of leaves and ferns, &c., lined with 
finer material, and sometimes, I am told, with feathers; it is not 
unlike a very large-sized nest of Sericornis frontalis, or a bulky 
nest of Malurus cyaneus, it is dome-shaped, with a comparatively 
large opening in the side, and placed in low bushes surrounded by 
vines &c. The eggs are three to four in number, of a greenish-white 
colour, with blackish, irregular, linear-shaped markings, some twisted 
and looped ; a few on the larger end, where they are most numerous, 
are of aslaty blue, and appear beneath the surface of the shell; on 
the thicker end of some, hair-lines of black predominate, and, cross- 
ing and looping over one another, form here and there a black blotch. 
Length 1-1 to 12 inch, by 0°8 to 0°85. 
94. MaLuRUS CYANEUS. 
I met with this species at Port Dennison, but not further north 
if I remember rightly. 
95. MALURUS AMABILIS. 
96. Maturus nypo.teucus, Gould, Suppl. B. A. pl. 22. 
These birds, whether they be of the same species or not, were 
found together on the open grass-lands in the neighbourhood of 
Cardwell, in the vicinity of scrubs. It has not by any means been 
proved that they are male and female of the same species, as I find 
neither Cockerell nor Thorpe, during their trip at Cape York, ascer- 
tained the sexes of the birds they shot, by dissection: I have made 
particular inquiries of Mr. Thorpe on this point ; and I regret to say 
my collector at Rockingham Bay, when he skinned my specimens, 
made the same mistake, and went solely by the plumage; in the 
same locality were shot specimens of M. laméerti. It is not impro- 
bable that Mr. Gould’s Malurus hypoleucus is quite a distinct spe- 
cies, or perhaps the young male of M. amadilis ; but from the shape 
of the bill &c. I am at present inclined to believe it to be a distinct 
species; the fact that they associate together in troops proves no- 
thing on this point. 
97. MALURUS LAMBERTI. 
I think Rockingham Bay must be the most northern limit of this 
species. The New South Wales birds differ in the tint of colouring 
from those from South Australia, being of a more verditer blue on 
the head, and of a lighter tint on the back. 
98. MALURUS MELANOCEPHALUS. 
Common everywhere from the Clarence river in New South 
Wales to Cape York. 
99. CisTICOLA RUFICEPS. 
This species is plentifully dispersed over the grass beds; it is 
common near Sydney, and equally plentiful at Cape York. The 
nest. ig a very neat, dome-shaped structure, chiefly composed of 
fine grasses, thistle-down, and cobweb, or the flowering portions of 
