64 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



X .80, {d) .94 X.78 inch. Other eggs, again, have very small 

 markings, giving them a freckled appearance. 



(These birds were very plentiful. I found 27 of their nests 

 with eggs in, mostly during November, but, there being plenty 

 of rain, the season was very favourable.) 

 CoLLYRiociNCLA BRUNNEA, Brown Shrike-Thrush. 



These birds are found right across the northern portion of 

 Australia, from Cooktown on the east coast to Derby on the 

 west. They have a beautiful clear note. Mr. Olive found one 

 nest on iSth October, about a foot down in the hollow of a 

 eucalyptus stump, about 5 feet from the ground, and another 

 in a bunch of mistletoe. It is an open nest, and composed of 

 fine twigs and long grass, and lined with dark-coloured roodets, 

 and measures — external depth, 4 inches ; internal, 2}^ inches ; 

 external diameter, 6 inches ; internal, 3^ inches. The eggs have 

 a white ground, with a few fair-sized reddish-brown markings, 

 slightly more numerous at the larger end, and markings beneath 

 the surface of a dark grey. The eggs measure— (a) 1.3 x .78, 

 (6) 1.5 X .79 inch. 



(Sometimes travel in small flocks, and get greatly excited if 

 their nest or eggs are taken. They are plentiful, and build any- 

 where — in forks, hollows, mistletoe, &c.) 

 Graucalus melanops, Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike. 



This bird ranges all over Australia, and Mr. Olive secured 

 some specimens, and also their nest and egg, on 19th October, 

 in the fork of a freshwater mangrove, about 30 feet from the 

 ground. The nest had a chicken in (just hatched) and an egg. 

 The structure was built compactly of fine twigs and tendrils, and 

 plentifully covered on the outside with cobwebs, with shreds of 

 bark fastened on, and it measures — external depth, 2^ inches; 

 internal, i^ inches; external diameter, 4 inches; internal, 

 2^ inches. The egg was large, measuring 1.30 x .91 inch, its 

 ground colour green, with rather large markings of a greenish- 

 brown fairly distributed over the egg, but forming a zone at the 

 larger end, and the markings appearing beneath the surface of 

 a greenish-grey. 



(Generally in pairs. Male and female take turns in sitting 

 on their nest. I climbed up above a nest that was getting built 

 to see if there were eggs. The birds got excited and flew 

 round, and destroyed the nest after I left. They were not 

 plentiful.) 

 Graucalus mentalis. Little Cuckoo-Shrike. 



This bird also has a wide range over Australia, but, as far as I 

 know, it has not yet been recorded from south-western Australia. 

 Mr. Olive found its shallow, open nest on 19th November, placed 

 in a fork near the end of a branch of a eucalyptus tree, about 30 



